Now, buying gold jewellery as easy as picking up a microwave

Amdavdi enterprise has found a dazzlingly tempting plank to bridge the gap between the city’s fascination with gold jewellery and its budget consciousness: equated monthly
instalments (EMI). Rukshmani, a Sola resident who works for a BPO, was enchanted by a gold chain worth Rs18,000 that she could not buy outright.

So, her jeweller allowed her to ‘book’ it; she is now paying for it in EMIs. Like Rukshmani, scores of city residents benefiting from a marketing practice that was once the tool of those who sold home appliances and vehicles.

Ranjan Shah of Sola says: “I have been paying Rs600 per month for the past 16 months for ornaments I bought from a local jeweller. I could not afford to pay the full cost in one go.”

Soaring prices of precious metals like gold and silver, as well as fierce competition in the jewellery market, have forced sellers to adopt the instalment method of payment.The trend began two years ago and is receiving good response nowadays.

However, the instalment system offered by jewellers is different from schemes prevalent in other sectors. Here, the customers have to pay over 80% of the cost in equal instalments before they can claim an ornament.“We started the scheme because customers cannot afford to pay for jewellery in one shot,” said Madhusudan Soni of Navdurga Jewellers in Bapunagar.

“It eases the customers’ burden because even a 10 gm gold ornament costs over Rs17,000.” The sellers have good reason not to give the ornament first. “Jewellers have to run the scheme with their own capital because no financial institution provides loan for jewellery,” Soni said.

The jewellery market has introduced other strategies to increase consumption, like discounts in labour charge, lucky draws, buy-back schemes and gifts. “The market was never run professionally before, but competition and soaring prices have compelled us to adopt new strategies,” said Rohit Zaveri, who runs a showroom on CG road. “We have to compete with national and international players.”

Customers should, however, be wary of the quality of products they buy under these schemes. “They must check the quality thoroughly,” said Chinu Modi, the vice-president of Choksi Mahajan, the apex body of jewellers in Manekchowk.