Invest in sibling love with gold and diamond rakhis

New Delhi: Raksha Bandhan denotes a promise of protection forever from a brother to a sister — so you might as well seal it with a life-long investment like a silver, gold or diamond "rakhi".

Ahead of the festival this year, these are being readily bought despite their expensive price tags.

If a regular rakhi costs anything between Rs2 and Rs150 (Dh12), a thread with a silver piece in the middle could cost Rs200-Rs1000, one with a gold motif could cost from Rs700 to Rs2,000 and a diamond-studded rakhi can be anything between Rs1,500 and Rs5,000, according to shopkeepers.

Suhas Aher, senior manager of jewellery brand Sparkle Diamonds, said people are more than willing to shell out money in the name of sibling affection.

"We started making diamond rakhis last year. And to our surprise, we have received a massive response this year as compared to 2010. When gold or diamond is added to the thread, these rakhis become more than just a band on the wrist — emotionally and also monetarily. They are a good investment," Aher said.

Raksha Bandhan, to be celebrated today, will see girls across the country tie a sacred thread on their brothers' wrists. Traditionally, it used to be just a simple thread, but with the years, rakhis started being made with elaborate designs. However, jewellers have gone a step ahead to promote the concept of lifelong investment.

"As we say diamonds are forever, in the same way we see the relationship between brothers and sisters. Their love, affection and bond is forever and keeping that ideology in mind we created this concept," said Aher.

Since gold touched a record high of Rs26,000 per ten grams on Tuesday, how does one manage to pursuade a customer to buy a rakhi for keeps?

"In a particular piece, 34mg to 1g of diamond is used. The good part of this is that the same rakhi can be converted into a pendant whenever the customer wants later in life," said Aher, whose company is selling 24 different designs of diamond-studded rakhis.

Nandhini Navin, business development executive of online portal caratlane.com, said the market for such rakhis is niche.

"Since 2007 we have been promoting rakhis made of precious metals. We make sure they are not imitations as we have a niche customer base, mostly NRIs," she said.

"Gold has always been an investment but now the prices are high... buying gold all at once is very difficult. So buying these small items from time to time doesn't disturb anyone's budget and will get good returns later," said jeweller Vipin Kumar.