On Friday, July 26, chairman of the Aditya Birla Group, Kumar Mangalam Birla announced high stakes in the expanding jewellery market of the country. Indriya, the name of the group’s jewellery brand underlines an investment of ₹5000 crores and the immediate opening of four stores in three cities—Delhi, Indore, Jaipur. The cleverly chosen brand name Indriya, alludes to the five senses. A golden deer is the brand symbol, pointing to the mythological golden deer of the Ramayana perhaps. Indriya, all gold and gemstones and pearls and more was unveiled at a lavish launch at Delhi’s Hotel Imperial. Music performances, a supper theatre, multi-course cuisine, the radiant Hindi cinema actor and face of the brand, Aditi Rao Hydari, confessing to being “in love with” jewellery, her hair softly flying over her face, brand films showing the intricacy of the ornaments and a live demonstration by jewellery artisans from different parts of India—bundled some (apparent) insights from the Indian consumer market. 

Among the most apparent is that more than ever before, weddings are the only driver perhaps of curiosity, comparison, consumer priorities. Of the dozens of elements that go into building and beaming a wedding, jewellery stands out. It can be worn, invested in, passed on. It can also be—if the consumer selects astutely—a narrator of personal and cultural stories, leading to future archival collections and museum curations. Which means, that while retail and luxury in the big picture may not be as optimistic in terms of driving demand and desire, jewellery is “safe”. Perhaps that’s what the Aditya Birla Group aims for, with Indriya. 

At the launch event, Birla, while addressing the audience spoke about the consumer dynamics in India, saying that “entering the jewellery business is compelling due to the ongoing value migration from informal to formal sectors, rising consumer preferences for strong, trusted brands, and the ever-booming wedding market.” He added that the group’s foray into paints and jewellery is a doff to the Indian consumer who is “perhaps the most promising consumer cohort globally.” Analysts may differ. As may the ground realities of the market about this definition of the temperament of the Indian consumer. The cohort in question, who can buy at will, in fact, seems to circle back to safe investments regardless of everything else experimental or evolving they may do. Also, weddings are not a sign of the consumer’s progressive spending priorities, they just reveal a certain tried and tested gluttony. What’s irrefutable though is that the Indian jewellery market, with an estimated worth of ₹6.7 lakh crore does have space for new players and the business of jewellery cannot look away. 

Birla also said that Indriya “aims to secure a position among top three jewellery retailers over the next five years.” With expansion planned in 10 + cities in the next six months, Indriya aims high. For it to actually sync in and soar in a competitive (also by design and aesthetic) market, it may have to work the hardest on distinguishing the design and impact of jewellery. As the market saturates and fattens towards more players—defined by wedding—design and aesthetic become confounding challenges. Most jewellery may be pretty and handmade, and valuable in terms of adornment ideas, but for it to rise above the obvious, its actual design, the complex play between simplicity and excess, how it is visually merchandised, how to make it “new age”—words from the press release—is not simply about investment. 

It may also be interesting to note that not only is there a growing breed of Indian fashion designers moving into precious jewellery businesses alongside first generation jewellers investing big, but ABFRL’s (Aditya Birla Fashion Retail Limited) own business partners—Sabyasachi Mukherjee, Tarun Tahiliani and Masaba Gupta—too create branded jewellery. Sabyasachi’s is precious and highly aspirational, while Tahiliani and Masaba work towards the very idea of “new age”. Let’s wait to see how the market wears it all together.

Banner: Actor and face of the brand Aditi Rao Hydari for Indriya.