Sky Gold To Enter Lab-Grown Diamond Segment In Next Two Quarters
Sky Gold's move into lab-grown diamonds aims to tap into growing demand, balancing the Indian market's luxury preference with export expansion to regions like the UAE and Qatar.
Sky Gold Ltd. plans to enter the lab-grown diamonds segment in the next two quarters, the company’s whole-time director, Darshan Chauhan, has said.
Speaking to NDTV Profit, Chauhan said that Sky Gold is currently in the wait-and-watch mode to analyse the market response to lab-grown diamonds in India.
"In India, it's a mixed view (for lab-grown diamonds). Some of the clients are saying that people want natural diamonds because it is a luxury to wear. They want the resale value, which lab-grown diamonds don't offer. But of course, we cannot deny that lab-grown diamond demand has started picking up," he said.
"As soon as we get the data that lab-grown diamonds are picking perfectly and customers are accepting it, we are also planning to enter into the segment and make samples," Chauhan added.
Tata Group firm Trent recently announced entry into the lab-grown diamond space. On the possibility of collaboration with Trent on lab-grown diamonds, given its previous partnerships with another Tata brand, Caratlane, Chauhan said that no discussion has taken place so far in this regard.
"We are planning to make some samples in one or two quarters. Whenever the product is ready, we can approach them (Trent) and show them the product. Before that, we had not approached them. But we are in a mindset that we will go into lab-grown diamonds in one or two quarters," he added. According to Chauhan, Sky Gold Ltd. further aims to increase the contribution of exports to the total revenue to up to 15% while keeping its focus on the Indian market.
"We will be relying on India for 80-85% (contributions to revenue); we will not take exports more than 15-20% of the revenue. Going into the expansion, we are expanding in the Middle East, especially in the UAE, Dubai, and Qatar. There we have our existing clients, like Kalyan Jewellers, who are all opening stores," he said.
Chauhan emphasised that the focus will remain on Middle Eastern and Asian countries where its existing clients already have a decent base.
Shares of Sky Gold Ltd. rose over 4% on Wednesday to touch an intraday high of Rs 4,560 apiece on the NSE. The stock closed 3.37% higher at Rs 4,530 apiece on the NSE, as against the benchmark Nifty settling at 24,641.8, up 0.13%.
