De Beers signed a memorandum of understanding with the Gem & Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC) ON Thursday (August 4) to launch category diamond promotions in India. The signing took place at the inauguration event for the 2016 edition of the India International Jewellery Show (IIJS), which kicked off in Mumbai, Gem Konnect reports.
De Beers CEO Bruce Cleaver, who was the chief guest at the inauguration, said that the category promotions would kick off towards the end of this calendar year, probably around the Diwali season or a little after. The Indian initiative would be centred around small diamonds and aimed at the gifting market. “We must be unrelenting in driving demand”, he noted.
Cleaver also said that India held more growth opportunity than anywhere else for the company’s own Forevermark diamond brand. “We have been consistently seeing growth of between 25- and 30 percent in the Indian market,” he observed. He added that this was because the country had an old and established jewellery consuming culture, had a rapidly growing middle class and had the fastest paced economic growth all round. “Brands will grow in India and so we are very excited about the downstream segment in India,” Cleaver said.
