UBM: Mumbai Show Helped Achieve Many of Our Goals in India

(IDEX Online News) – UBM said that its first ever Mumbai Jewellery & Gem Fair (MGJF) had taken the group a long way toward achieving many of its goals for the Indian market.

The show, which ran December 9-11, featured 280 exhibitors displaying finished jewelry as well as loose diamonds and gemstones. UBM reported that 4,887 retailers visited the show.

“We’re happy with the fact that we went a long way towards achieving our goals, which are to reach established as well as upcoming retailers of diamond, gold and fine jewelry as well as to create a place where retailers can see new styles, network and gain knowledge,” said UBM’s Shamal Pote.

"For the next show, we will keep the wide offering and work at increasing the number of visitors," he added.

The show featured a number of overseas pavilions including Israel, Belgium, Thailand and Italy. Participating firms from these countries included loose diamond and gemstone dealers as well as jewelry manufacturers.

India is now a consuming market of interest for many global gem and jewelry players and many want either to enter into relationships as suppliers or partner Indian firms in joint ventures, particularly in jewelry, as there are high tariff barriers to the import of finished jewelry into the country.

Fashion parade at the UBM show

An exhibitor told IDEX Online that while loose diamonds were in low demand, gold jewelry, especially designs not set with precious or semi-precious gems, did well. Pote noted that this is because many of the visitors were from the south of India. Gold jewelry is strong in India’s southern markets, where UBM has two well-established trade shows, one in Chennai and the other in Hyderabad.

Responses from exhibitors were positive. Sirachai Panichyanont of Gold Mongkon Mahakit in Thailand observed that the business prospects in Mumbai were immense and that his firm had great expectations of the next edition of the show, slated for January 6-8, 2013.

According to Pote, the show was moved to January because of venue availability constraints as well as to be closer to when retailers need to replenish their stocks.

Chris Casey, Vice President of the Nielsen Jewelry Group which brought its Couture line to the show, noted that his firm planned to introduce several international brands at the next show. “We are looking at making the show one of the biggest platforms to showcase our brands,” he said.

Hitesh Khandelwal, Business Development Manager for Shree Ramkrishna Exports felt that the show added impetus to the growth of the Indian gem and jewelry industry. The professional that UBM brought to the management of trade shows such as this, he observed, was what helped give that extra push.