Another Indian jewellery chain makes the cut in UAE

Dubai:

Another Indian jewellery chain, Bhima, is trying to make the cut in the UAE’s intensely competitive marketplace. The plan is to have five or six stores in the UAE in the initial phase and then seek opportunities elsewhere in the Gulf. “The decision to branch out of India was made last year — being in Dubai, where we will have the first store, immediately puts within reach of an audience that cuts across the geographic and demographic lines that we routinely see in India,” said Rashmi Vinod, Director at the jewellery chain which has its traditional strengths in the southern Indian states of Kerala, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.

“There are a lot of Indian expats here who are already exposed to the brand back home — they would form the natural base to build up our profile in the UAE and then work on expanding that.

“For the UAE stores, we will be sourcing inventory not just from India but tap Italian and other design selections from here.”

It was last year that another Indian jewellery chain, Kalyan, made a splashy entry into the UAE through one of the biggest promotional blitz seen in this market. At the time, it was reckoned there would be an onrush of other jewellery chains as well after the Indian government put in requirements such as a mandatory 20 per cent quota on exports and kept import duty on bullion at a steep 10 per cent. (The 20 per cent export requirement was subsequently dropped late last year.)

“That 10 per cent plus the up to 5 per cent sales tax that individual states in India impose on jewellery purchases works out to sizeable price advantage on each gram for an Indian buying gold in the UAE or the Gulf,” said an industry source. “That’s a key motive for those Indian jewellers not already having a base in the UAE to do so now.”