De Beers Forevermark aims to sell 2.5 lakh diamonds in 2022, bets on South India to drive sales

New Delhi: Indian arm of jewellery retail chain De Beers Forevermark aims to sell 2.5 lakh diamonds, approximately 65,000 carats in 2022 which is nearly 35 per cent higher than last year, a top official of the company told ETRetail.

Present at the annual forum of De Beers Group held in Mumbai, Amit Pratihari, general manager, De Beers Forevermark shared that the company has witnessed close to 30 – 35 per cent of year on year growth in India both in terms of value and volume.

He added that though 2020 was a difficult year for the company due to COVID, it has witnessed solid bounce back over the last two years. “COVID was a challenging year. We went down by almost 35 per cent of the volume. But the bounce back is solid. In 2022 compared to pre-COVID year 2019, we are 15-20 per cent up. Thus, we are in double digit growth.”

Pratihari said that while the short term outlook is very positive, in the long term the company needs to expand its retail presence to meet the demands of the market.

“The next 5 to 10 years, we are focusing on building our retail network. We are looking at exclusive stores,” he said. The company plans to add 16 exclusive boutique stores across the country, taking the total count to 30.

Speaking on region-wise performance, Pratihari shared that South India has been the key driver for the brand’s growth and contributes to around 40 to 45 per cent of volume followed by West and East. Going forward, he expects South India to continue to dominate the company’s sales due to better retail infrastructure for jewellery.

Commenting on expected rise in diamond jewellery due to increasing prices of rough diamonds as result of sanctions on Russia and overall shortage in the market, he said that the prices will definitely go higher because of what’s happening around the world, however won’t have a significant impact on consumer demand.

Sachin Jain, Managing Director, De Beers India, also present at the forum, resonated the same thoughts.

During his address, Jain shared that by 2030, the Indian diamond industry will be a 75 billion dollars market opportunity. When asked about De Beers’ expected share in this pie, Jain said that with its leadership and branding, the company expects to lead. Presently, De Beers supplies about 30 per cent of the world’s diamonds, he claimed.

Courtesy: Economic Times