People preferring diamonds to gold in Kolkata

People in Kolkata are inclining towards buying diamond jewellery because of sky rocketing prices of gold jewellery.

Gold spot price surged to $1,195 on Friday as the dollar saw its biggest fall in 15 months.

"As you know that gold price has hiked a lot so I think that the diamond collection will be more affordable to us because if I buy something around Rs2-3 lakhs, I will get a better set in diamond rather than in gold," said Priyanka Chowdhury, a customer.

"I feel diamond is more affordable now. I also see diamond as a nice investment. So I think it is more profitable to buy a diamond now," she added.

Dwaipayan Sen, of Tanishq jewellery brand, said that the reason behind customers preferring diamond jewellery instead of gold is narrowing price difference between the two.

"Due to the increased gold rate, many people have to think twice now for buying jewellery. With the increase in gold rate, the prices compared to diamond are slowly reducing," said Dwaipayan Sen, regional business manager, Tanishq Jewellery.

"Earlier one standard diamond necklace which is costing today around 25,000-30,000 rupees, if we compare with a plain gold jewellery also, plain gold starts in 20,000-25,000 rupees. So the difference earlier which was much more bigger, today it has come very closer to that."

The most traded December gold contract was trading at Rs17,486 per 10 gm.