Surana lures global markets

Surana Jewellers of Jaipur, one of the oldest jewellery manufacturers from Jaipur are eyeing growth in exports of ethnic hand made jewellery through global auction houses and jewellery chains.

The company is dealing through retailers with Sotheby's and Christie's, London as well as other auction houses in a bid to attract NRIs and foreigners interested in ethnic Indian jewellery.

The company has also begun selling its gems and jewellery to international jewellery retailers like Tiffany, Cartier and others and is in the process of expanding its reach on global shores.

"The company is witnessing a surge in export demand by 15 per cent this year on the back of growing markets in the US and West Asia. Even other markets like Hong Kong, Italy, France, Germany, the UK and recently Pakistan have also shown a lot of potential for ethnic handmade jewellery," said Kamal Surana, managing director, Surana Jewellers of Jaipur.

The Surana group has been preserving the fading Moghul art of gold enamelled Kundan and Jadau jewellery, which had shown signs of extinction a couple of years ago.

The company has its manufacturing base at Jaipur and with increasing demand for the hand made jewellery from across the country, plans are afloat to widen its national presence.

"Inspite of being based only at Jaipur, there has been tremendous growth in demand for enamelled Kundan and Jadau jewellery across the country due to word of mouth. We are now planning to cater to our customers in their own cities by way of exhibitions where original pieces will be put up for sale," said Surana.

The company has begun holding exhibitions at Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai, Hyderabad, Pune, Bangalore and presently at Ahmedabad. Jewellery pieces ranging from Rs 5,000 to Rs 5 lakh are being put up for sale.