With the wedding and festival season on, the second half of the current calendar year is expected to put drooping jewellery sales back on track and take the annual gold demand to the usual 800-and-odd tonnes this year too, said Vipin Sharma, Director (Jewellery), World Gold Council.

In the first half of the year, there was 8 per cent drop (in value terms) in jewellery demand from that of the comparable period last year.

According to Sharma, gold demand last year was at 933 tonnes.

However, in the first half of the current year, due to price volatility of the metal, jewellery demand dropped significantly.

To shore up the falling demand, World Gold Council, for the first time in the world, has taken an initiative to launch its own jewellery brand in the market, and promote it.

The not-for-profit, market development organisation for the gold industry, today launched its jewellery brand Azva. The agency, in a tie-up with various manufacturers across the country and their design teams, has designed a range of wedding jewellery.

It has also tied up with select jewellery retailers – GRT, Joy Alukkas, Khazana, Malabar Gold, NAC, Nathella Sampathu Jewellery and Prince Jewellery - to showcase and sell the Azva range.

Sharma said today more than 50 per cent of the jewellery is purchased for weddings.

However, these wedding jewellery designs are more traditional than contemporary, “and hence the jewellery find their place in the safety locker after the wedding.”

The Azva range, targeted at women in the age group of 23-30, is very contemporary and will suit any occasion.

The new range of jewellery will be made available in Chennai, Mumbai, Delhi and Kolkata before the coming Diwali, and national roll-out may happen in a year’s time, he said.

> ravikumar.ramanujam@thehindu.co.in

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