By Sept-Oct, market would recover by 60-70%: Sachin Jain

“Currently world is anxious about what future holds, but we are doing our bit to unfold the mystery and moving towards normalcy,” said Sachin Jain, MD, DeBEERS, while deliberating on the topic ‘Creating Meaningful Tomorrows'.
Jain was in conversation with Dr.Annurag Batra, Chairman & Editor-in-Chief, exchange4media & BW Businessworld, for the virtual edition on Pitch Brand Talk.
While taking about the past 90 days of lockdown, he thanked his team for their effectiveness during the uncertain times. He said, "I am really proud of my team that we were all able to seamlessly integrate work together & bring effectiveness." 
When asked about his learning as a leader during these uncertain times, Jain replied that it is the need for self reflection. “I never took self reflection seriously, but the lockdown forced me into being alone and do so. As a leader, I reflected to chart out a future. My most important learning is to carve out time for reflection,” he said.
According to him, lockdown also gave him a chance to personify the values his company stands for. “DeBEERS stand for certain values. These 90 days were where we lived those values. We saw the merits of our values like 'show we care', 'pulling together', etc, happening live. We got reciprocation from our employees and consumers. One of our values is ‘shaping the future'. Now the ball is in our court to shape the future boldly from these volatile and ambiguous times in new world," he said.
Discussing the consumer trends during lockdown, Jain said that a consciousness in consumer emerged regarding their buying patterns. He said, “People discovered sense of contentment and gratitude.”
He said that their research shows that consumer of today may buy less but will buy valuable things and what matters to them. Relationships matter the most to them. Their sensibility towards natural world is emerging. He added, “Ironically, all connects back to us, as grace and rarity is what diamonds are.”
Jain acknowledged that there is a lack of demand for diamonds in the market, but he added that fundamentally consumers are moving towards different consumption, and diamonds fit there beautifully.
In the new normal, as per Jain, simplicity will be an important being. “Opulence of showing off culture is going to take a beating. But as marketers, if we talk about trends how consumers are navigating through different needs, we believe we have an extremely strong product. Diamond is a gift of Mother Nature, and unlike most luxury items, it is not a depreciating asset,” he said.
Talking about India’s vast diamond market, Jain informed that, "14 out of 15 diamonds that are manufactured in world comes from India. India plays a extremely huge role in the manufacturing of diamonds".
As per him, the business that came to the standstill during lockdown is re-opening in a small manner. Markets like China, which opened a long time ago, are seeing huge demand.
Elaborating more about the Chinese market, Jain said, “The numbers from our china operations were baffling because of the speed of recovery towards normalcy and with the speed of people investing in luxury like diamond.” But, according to him, the trend may not replicate in India, as the way we consume luxury is very different. “Short-term consumption will be about core necessity and basic survival,” he said.
Deliberating about the Indian market, Jain informed that, it's been four weeks since the market opened up, and most markets have recovered 25%- 40%. He added "We think that a big comeback should be around September or October, where we should be about 60-70 % recovered and a much better recovery in 2021.”
There is a small section that is not impacted economically, and according to Jain, if the marketers address this section logically, the short-term sorrows can be taken care of.
Addressing the issue of marketers pulling the money from marketing and research, Jain advised against it. He said, “It is not time to tamper research and marketing budget. In these times, marketers need to be on the top of the pulse of consumers, or they might lose. The era of long- term planning is history. The mitigation strategies have become about planning month-on-month and week-on-week basis. Agility and knowing consumers mind is important. What worked in the past may not work in the future.”
Jain added that the last three months have highlighted the importance of collaboration and care in business. He said, “In the last 3 months, the amount of collaboration to build the future together has been unprecedented & as business leaders we all know the challenges might look different but in context they are very similar."
As per Jain, in the post-COVID world, brands that’ll survives and thrive would be the ones build upon genuine brand principals. "Luxury to sit on non-decision making is over. Leaders need to make quick and more decision. Business will need to reflect back upon core business."
He concluded talking about recognizing the rule of business. He said, “Everyone needs to recognize what is the rule of their business & in our case, one of the rules of business is tha diamond is happiness, joy & cheer."