A number of businesses are family businesses while some create their own mark without a family lineage. Though not from a diamantaire’s family, M. Tarun has created a mark for itself with sheer dedication and focus on offering only the ‘best’ product. Kavita Parab brings you an overview of the company.

Some businesses are handed over through family legacy, while some enterprising individuals build their own businesses. Within the Indian diamond industry, there are innumerable business houses, which are part of the family businesses and have been passed on from one generation to the other. However, there are few diamantaires who have created niche for themselves without any diamond lineage. M. Tarun, is one such Indian manufacturer, known for the precision in their products.

Inception

Thecompany was founded by two brothers - Manish and Tarun Kalaria. That is how the company came to be known as – M. Tarun.For Kalaria brothers, diamond business did not come to them as a part of family tradition. Their father was in hardware business. It was in the year 1987, when Tarun joined a diamond factory as a polisher. And, soon Manish followed in his footsteps.
In 1989, both of them decided to start their own diamond factory and that is when M. Tarun’s journey began in Malad, a western suburb of Mumbai, with only two workers - Manish and Tarun and two Ghantis. From modest beginnings, with an uncompromising ethos for precision manufacturing, the company has grown from making a small production, sold locally on the market, to a rapidly growing international business.

At present, Tarun takes care of manufacturing and rough purchase while Manish takes care of polish sales and finance.

Factories and Offices

Today, the company has one major factory and three other manufacturing units for specialist productions in Mumbai. They have sales office in the Bharat Diamond Bourse in Mumbai, as well as associate sales offices in Hong Kong, Shanghai, London, Dubai, Bangkok and Antwerp.

For Tarun, the 1500 workers working with M. Tarun is only his society and family. The company’s sales in Europe, handling of top jewellery and watches brands of the world are handled by Samir Shah while the company’s sales in Hong Kong, China and Far East Region is handled by Vipul Jain.

The company is involved in overall well-being of its employees. Many of their employees have been with them since the company began manufacturing 20 years ago and these ambassadors now shape the ability and knowledge of their growing number of staff.

The company predominantly manufactures diamonds from 0.01 to 0.39 and each one with exactly the same attention to detail and same parameters. They also manufactur some stones in the range of 0.40 to 2.00 carat. No matter what size, all of their diamonds are manufactured to the exact parameters, which are considerably narrower than those of either GIA triple Excellent or AGS triple 0.

The company calls this as the ‘M.Tarun Make’ and it is up to 50-150 times narrower in its parameters (or combinations that would still be acceptable) than the top make of GIA or AGS.

The company supplies bagging, matching and mm sizes for the watch and jewellery industry.

Turning Point

Though M. Tarun has always been focused on ‘Make’, the key turning point came in 2009 when Tarun’s manufacturing experience of last 20 years combined with client feedback from Manish and their continuous endeavour to improve the ultimate product led them to create a very specific criterion to manufacture polished diamonds from 0.01ct till 0.39cts within specific parameters. We call it ‘M. Tarun Make’.

It has been an easy job in bigger sizes because of technological advancement in machinery but to do this at large scale and that too consistently in 0.01ct till 0.39cts has been phenomenal. This has led to M.Tarun’s success in winning over top clients, brands and top-end jewellery manufacturer from Western Europe, Far East Asia and the USA. This has played a crucial role in M. Tarun’s growth.

Business Model and Principles

M. Tarun’s business model is simple and focused and reflects their business ethos. They buy one type of rough, they manufacture one type of polished product, and they have been doing it consistently and well.

“We have always been focused on diamond business and never focused or invested out of diamond business and that is the key to success,” says Tarun.

Their focus has always been on manufacturing top makes, high quality customer service. And these two have been the key to the exponential growth after 2009. The company remains focused on its mantra of consistent precision manufacturing for each and every stone, regardless of possible short term gains. Since inception, the company has only one goal: “To consistently manufacture the most precise and perfect round diamonds.”