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Shrikant Zaveri in Calcutta on Tuesday. Picture by Kishor Roy Chowdhury
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Calcutta, Sept. 18: Tribhovandas Bhimji Zaveri (TBZ) —a BSE-listed jewellery retailer — will invest Rs 1,200 crore to take its total number of showrooms to 57 by March 2015 from 18 at present.
The company, which forayed into the eastern region today by opening two outlets at Camac Street and Kankurgachi in Calcutta, is targeting a 10 per cent market share in the region in three years. It plans to add three more showrooms in Bengal by 2015.
“I see a flat demand for gold this year because of the overall sentiment around the world. The demand for diamond has been growing in the last five years. The demand for gold will pick up because of the festive and marriage season in the third quarter of this fiscal,” TBZ chairman and managing director Shrikant Zaveri said.
The domestic jewellery market size is expected to be around Rs 1 lakh crore, of which the eastern region constitutes around 20 per cent.
The current product mix between gold and diamond in TBZ’s portfolio is in the ratio of 80:20.
“Our effort is to increase the share of diamond jewellery as the margins are better. It should be at least 70:30. We will also target tier II and III cities. We are confident that there is a good market size in Calcutta,” said Kiran Dixit, group head (advertisement and marketing).
The price of gold, which recently touched Rs 32,590 per 10 gram, has not been able to dampen demand. “People had stopped purchases but in the last 8-10 days, things are looking positive. As the metal price rises, people buy more anticipating a further hike in prices. The Calcutta market is larger than estimated. People have a huge disposable income,” Divyesh Shah, group head (retail business), said.
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