Diamond jewellery major De Beers plans to expand its retail presence in the country following a strong growth of the industry in 2021.

Sachin Jain, managing director, De Beers Forevermark, said the pandemic has given the jeweller an opportunity to rethink on its exclusive store expansion strategy. The format was tested in India at various locations including in Calcutta before the pandemic.

As part of the rebranding exercise, the company has decided to leverage the organisation name onto the brands.

“Today we have about 14 stores in India and we expect to have 30 stores by the end of the calendar year. These will be exclusive De Beers Forevermark stores,” Jain said.

The stores will operate in a franchisee model with an estimated two-thirds located out of malls.

Changing buying preference is one of the major drivers behind the expansion.

“We have realised that a young upwardly mobile consumer in India is getting more inclined towards consuming brands. There is also a changing preference from buying only gold jewellery to gold and diamond jewellery. There is also a tilt towards larger sizes of diamonds,” Jain said.

Jain said that 2022 has been a strong year for the industry with De Beers’ largest markets US, growing over 30 per cent.

In India the growth was around 20 per cent inspite of the fact that two months retail business was affected by the pandemic.

India, however, continues to be behind China in the pecking order of markets for De Beers.

But the company remains bullish on its growth prospects in the country.

Around 50 per cent of the diamonds is consumed in the US. with China at around 18-19 per cent.

India’s share is 7-7.5 per cent. Jain said this number is estimated to grow to double digits by 2025-26.