Indiantelevision.com Team

(5 January 2008 1:00 pm)

BANGALORE: Bulk gold jewellery exporter and manufacturer Rajesh Exports (REL) has announced the launch of nine brands with over 700 set designs of diamond jewellery in Bangalore. The nine brands are Harmony, Eternal, Solitaire, I-teen, Filigree, Southern, Ghazal Aishwarya and Sushmita.

The company last year purchased 75 tons of the precious metal from around the world to process it to jewels.

REL plans to roll out its diamond brands across India within the next three weeks. The diamonds are now available in its flagship 'Labh' brand of stores in Bangalore's Commercial Street.

All the diamond brands will be sold exclusively through the 30 stores that Labh has in 23 cities in India. Internationally, the company plans to tie up with the two top jewellery chains of each of the hundred countries it wants to reach out to. This includes chains such as Zales which has around 400 stores and JC Penny in the US. At present, the company plans to limit its role to supply in the case of foreign shores, where the partner chains will promote and market REL products.

In India, Bollywood actress and the Censor Board of India chairman Sharmila Tagore is REL's brand ambassador.

The company plans a Rs 100-120 million TVC campaign for 2008 in January-December and a print media campaign of about Rs 60-70 million during the same period. Since media group Bennett, Coleman & Co Ltd (BCCL) has a stake in the company, the print media campaign is currently limited to (BCCL) publications.

However, REL has plans to place ads in jewellery magazines and other print publications, according to REL chairman Rajesh Mehta. A TVC is already being aired on NDTV. The company plans to air ads on Zee Business, CNBC, CNN-IBN and later on national level GECs as well as local and regional channels in cities where its Labh stores are present.

REL plans to leverage its concept of direct-from-the-mines to the customer concept, which helps it offer buyers lower prices, to sell its diamonds in India and abroad. The company had revenues of around Rs 70 billion for the year 2006-07, 93 per cent of which was by way of bulk exports. The company expects to close the financial year 2007-08 with a top line of Rs 80 billion ($2 billion), and by March 2009, it expects its private label exports, retail and diamond business to bring in business of around Rs 2.5 billion.