More trade visitors would have raised Hyderabad show profile

The Hyderabad Jewellery, Pearl & Gem Fair 2008 came to an end after a medium to luke-warm turnout during its four days. Interacting with media persons soon after the inauguration ceremony, Hon’ble Minister for Major Industries, Govt. of Andhra Pradesh, Dr. J. Geeta Reddy said the state government was setting up an exclusive jewellery mall in Banjara Hills, Hyderabad with all modern amenities and invited the industry to avail of the opportunity.

Local consumers outnumbers traders

While exhibitors from India like P. Manoharlal, Mangatrai, Mussadilal Exporters, MBS, and Meena Jewellers participated in the show, there were also a moderate range of international designs including Diamonds from Antwerp, diamond studded jewellery from Hong Kong and Thailand. The show also attracted many small and medium retailers from the southern states of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Kerala and Andhra Pradesh. Local consumers outnumbered the traders in this show. As one exhibitor put it, “we expected more of wholesalers of south India to come, but we have received mostly end consumer queries which are not useful for us.”

A luke-warm affair

While Hall A did relatively well, Hall B was half empty and there were fewer footfalls. Lamented one exhibitor from Hall B, “We have been highly disadvantaged as we find a lot of people are going away after visiting Hall A as they seemed to be unaware about the displays in Hall B.” Some of the participants also felt that the poor showing at the event could be attributed to poor publicity and promotion locally.

The overall impact

Perhaps, one of the saving graces of the show came from the local retailers who either placed orders or gave appointments to meet a number of jewellery manufacturers. Also, the venue being a hub for pearls, this item of jewellery received lavish response. Quite notably, jewellery from Thailand was well appreciated. In the final analysis, the overwhelming presence of retail players and end consumers in stark contrast to the number of manufacturers who participated in the show, loose diamond and color stone exhibitors experienced a less than satisfactory outcome. To sum up, while business in pearls was very good, traditional jewellery along with Thewa and Kundan Meena was good. On the gems front, while color stones and loose diamonds did poorly, diamond jewellery turned out an average performance.