Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Nov 07, 2007
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Online edition of India's National Newspaper Wednesday, Nov 07, 2007 ePaper |
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Tamil Nadu
Looking for the best: Customers on a purchasing spree in a jewellery showroom in Chennai. CHENNAI: Though the awareness of consumers purchasing gold jewellery has increased over the last few years, being cautious while choosing jewellery always helps, say showroom owners. In gold, what matters most is the level of purity of the yellow metal. A consumer initiative in this direction is the Hallmark certification introduced by the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS). But there still are hordes of people who opt for jewellery without the certification as they cost less. The BIS is expected to make the certification mandatory for gold jewellery from January next year. “Then, good quality will become a norm and it will be a level-playing field for jewellers,” says Jitendra Vummidi, partner, Vummidi Bangaru Jewellers. “More customers are nowadays asking questions about quality aspects and resale value of the jewellery. This certainly means they are better informed,” he adds. World Gold Council vice-president K. Shivram says: “Culturally, Indians have a strong connection with gold. The awareness now is very high.” The number of [Hallmark] licensees indicates that there is an inherent willingness in manufacturers to provide good quality, he adds. Pricing strategiesBesides quality, other aspects that play a major role in the cost of the gold jewellery are wastage and making charges. Some showrooms, such as Prince Jewellery, calculate the wastage rate depending on the piece of jewellery chosen, while others prefer to maintain the same rate of wastage irrespective of the type of jewellery purchased. “Customers know that 22 karat gold is more durable. They also want to see the Hallmark certification before they pay the bill,” says R.Shivakumar, manager at Prince Jewellery. “The Hallmark 916 (91.6 per cent gold) and customers’ awareness about it are very healthy trends for the jewellers,” he adds. But for those purchasing jewellery without the certification, the quality comes to the fore when they try exchanging it at another showroom. On such occasions, much to their dismay, they are told that the piece that they brought in is of low quality. However, if they take the jewellery back to the showroom from where it was purchased, they do not encounter such issues. A BIS Hallmark comprises five features — the BIS Mark, the fineness number, the assaying and hallmarking centre’s mark, jeweller’s mark and year of marking denoted by a code letter.
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