We should promote magnificence of Indian jewellery globally: MP Ahammed, Malabar Group

Malabar Gold & Diamonds, a three-decade-old brand is the flagship company of Malabar Group, a diversified Indian business conglomerate. With an annual turnover of $4.1 billion, the company currently ranks as the 6th largest jewellery retailer globally. 

A big part of the group's success is its culture of putting customers first and that’s what sets it apart, said Malabar Group Chairman, M.P Ahammed. In a chat with exchange4media, Ahammed spoke about how Malabar as a significant player in the jewellery industry has evolved over the years. He also shed light on the company’s festive plans, the marketing mix the company uses to proliferate its marketing presence, financial avenues and how the jewellery industry paved its way amid government import restrictions on gold jewellery articles.  

A glittering festive season 

The Indian jewellery industry is on a very strong growth trajectory. Over the last couple of years, the value of gold and diamonds has appreciated by 25-30% which has led Indians to spend more on gold and diamond jewellery aided by the robust growth in the economy. The festive season is lined up and Jewellery brands are all set to invest their marketing budgets heavily across different media platforms.  

Sharing Malabar plans for the festive season, Ahammed says, “Festive and wedding seasons are the crucial seasons for the jewellery retail industry to drive sales. Jewellers usually go all out to attract maximum eyeballs. We always maintain a balanced approach while finalising our advertising plans for the festive seasons. We always ensure our presence across all advertising platforms such as print, TV, digital, and social media. We’ll follow that approach in the upcoming festive season.” 

A strong network 

Malabar has a strong retail network of 324 outlets spread across 11 countries in addition to multiple offices, design centres, wholesale units, and factories spread across India, the Middle East, Far East & USA. The group, owned by more than 4,000 shareholders, has more than 17,500 professionals from over 26 countries working towards its continued success. 

“The humble beginning from a tiny 400 sq. ft. shop in Kozhikode, Kerala to a growing retail presence across 11 countries with over 324 showrooms speaks volumes. We always put customers first and that’s what sets us apart,” Ahammed shared.  

“Schemes like the ‘One India One Gold Rate’ scheme which offers gold jewellery at a uniform price across all our showrooms in the country, lifetime maintenance for jewellery, 100% HUID Verified BIS hallmarked gold, a 28-point quality check of global standards, have helped us build stronger trust with our customers. Customers have been the biggest growth capital for us. We always go the extra mile to make our customers happy and offer them a world-class buying experience and that has made all the difference for us,” Ahammed added. 

Malabar Gold & Diamonds is present across 11 countries and has around 324 showrooms and 14 manufacturing units in five nations.  

Sharing more insiders, Ahammed said, “We currently have over 324 showrooms. Our goal is to emerge as the number-one jewellery brand by 2030. To achieve that target, we are expanding our presence globally. We are planning to expand our footprints in Australia, Canada, the UK, Turkey, and Bangladesh.”

A glittering marketing plan 

Malabar Gold has fabricated interesting marketing campaigns in the past featuring several celebrities, including Kareena Kapoor, Anil Kapoor, Alia Bhatt and many South Indian stars. 

Speaking about featuring South Indian and other celebrities in marketing campaigns, Ahammed said, “Well, our association with celebrities is primarily based on the values we strongly believe in and the values that celebrities stand for. Names like Kareena Kapoor, Anil Kapoor, Alia Bhatt, or even NTR Junior have established themselves as icons thanks to their acting prowess. Similarly, in our three-decade-old journey, we have emerged as the leading jewellery retail chain in the country based on our unwavering commitment to trust, transparency, quality and purity standardisation, and customer service.  

When it comes to planning the marketing budget, it’s a strategic decision for us. It varies from campaign to campaign and is based on a few key parameters such as media mix, media consumption habits of the target consumer segments.”

“As I said, we will continue to adopt a strategic approach while further building our visibility and strengthening our brand proposition through marketing efforts. The marketing and advertising space has become extremely dynamic with the growing experimentations in digital media and social media advertising. We carefully evaluate all the developments to decide the budget. Be it our Brides of India Campaign for promoting bridal jewellery or the Ever After campaign exclusively on social media for promoting wedding bands - freshness and uniqueness of ideas matter the most to us when it comes to garnering a larger customer attention span. I think ideas and the process of execution decide the budget and not vice versa,” shared Ahammed.  

A gleaming 2024

Mentioning how Malabar has paved its way towards a bright future in terms of revenue growth, Ahammed said, “Jewellery retail business is always guided by consumer sentiment, prevailing market scenarios, and demand. As jewellery as a category competes with other lifestyle and new product categories such as apparel fashion brands, smartwatches, etc., the competition to gain a larger wallet share is increasingly becoming tougher. Having said that, positive consumer sentiment on the back of economic revival added momentum to festive and wedding season sales in 2023. At Malabar Gold & Diamonds, we have maintained a healthy revenue graph in FY22-23. 

For us, the key learning is that it’s about time we should promote the timeless magnificence of Indian jewellery craftsmanship at the global level. We launched 'Make in India, Market to the World' for that purpose i.e. to bring the focus onto the unparalleled Indian jewellery artistry. I think we, the jewellery retail industry as a whole, must come together to boost the design leadership of India across the world. 

We expect a strong revival of consumer demand in the October-December 2023 quarter i.e. the festive and wedding season quarter.”  

All that glitters is gold and diamond 

The Global Gold & Diamond Jewellery Market is projected to grow at a CAGR of 4.2% during the forecast period, to reach USD 97.87 billion by 2028 from USD 73.67 billion in 2021. The growth is being driven by an increase in demand for gold jewellery across all applications and regions, coupled with the rising luxury segment in emerging economies such as China and India where customers are willing to spend more on Luxuries like gold jewellery. Based on the industry analytics, we are expecting good growth in the upcoming years where the maximum growth is coming from developing economies.  

“The demand in GCC countries, countries in the Far East, and the USA, where we have a presence, is healthy. Gold is an integral part of the country’s socio-cultural ethos. So, the demand for yellow metal across regions is eternal. Having said that, diamonds are for customers with evolved sensibilities. As jewellery has become an expression of individuality, we are witnessing healthy demand growth in the diamond jewellery category as well,” said Ahammed.  

Import restrictions  

In July 2023, the Government restricted imports of some gold jewellery and articles. However, import under a valid India-UAE CEPA TRQ is permitted freely without any import license.  

Sharing insights on how government decisions will impact the Jewellery brands, Ahammed said, “Both decisions will benefit the jewellery industry in more ways than one. The import restriction aims to curb the uncontrolled flow of jewellery. On the other hand, gold import through India-UAE Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) is transparent. Malabar Gold and Diamonds became the first jewellery group in India to obtain a TRQ (Tariff Rate Quota) license from the Director General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) through which we can import gold through India International Bullion Exchange (IIBX).”