Kerala women preferring trendy diamond jewellery

'Diamonds are a woman's best friend', goes the adage, and the fairer sex in Kerala seem to agree, increasingly preferring trendy delicate diamond jewellery to heavy gold ornaments due to soaring prices of the yellow metal.

The diamond jewellery business has seen about 30% growth in sales in 2009-10 fiscal, top jewellers in Kerala say.

Industry experts say there is a gradual shift in consumer preference towards diamonds, but that the South Indian market is still largely a gold market.

There is increasing demand for diamond jewellery since the last three years, says S Sanathana Pai, managing director of 135-year-old A Geeri Pai Jewellers at the nearby Broadway, a well known firm in Kerala, which showcases gold and diamond jewels.

"Working women and IT professionals are not into heavy gold ornaments, which can be mostly worn only during weddings and cannot be used regularly," he told PTI.

However, even now, there are regular sales for traditional jewellery like 'Palakka' and 'Nagapada', he said.

Kerala women used to wear heavy gold ornaments, but demand for 10 to 15 sovereign gold necklaces has come down, and women now prefer light-weight jewellery in gold and diamonds, he said.

According to PP Sunny, CEO Sunny Diamonds, gold jewellery sales have gone down by 10-30% throughout the state, with interest in diamonds picking up from Kozhikode to Thiruvananthapuram.

New designs and patterns are being created every day, and new trends are being launched every quarter to woo customers, he said. Sunny Diamonds has manufacturing units at Kochi and Bangalore.