Demand for silver jewellery set to rise 50% over next few years

The demand for silver-jewellery is likely to grow by 50 per cent year on year over the next few years. At present, the silver jewellery market is of Rs 1,000 crore. The overall Jewellery market would be roughly around 4 lakh crore. This includes all precious metals, semi precious jewellery and diamonds.

Talking to Bizz Buzz, Dr Saurabh Gadgil, Chairman and Managing Director of PNG Jewellers, a Maharashtra Jewellery behemoth, says, "Since silver jewellery is relatively a low ticket item, we expect the market size to be around Rs 10,000 crore. We would call this the fashion jewellery market. This would also include other metal jewellery like copper, brass and zinc." Out of the Rs 10,000 crore market, 10 per cent would constitute metals other than silver, so roughly Rs 1,000 crore, he said.

Over the last few years, silver has emerged as a fashion statement amongst women, especially working women and teenagers. We are also seeing senior women wearing silver jewellery, since silver jewellery can be both modern as well as classical in its style. We are seeing a lot of buyers entering via silver jewellery in the market and slowly upgrading to gold and diamond jewellery. This is seen as a growing trend, he added.

"We expect the silver jewellery market to grow 50 per cent year on year over the next few years, highlighting the strong potential of the category. Hence we have decided to enter in to the silver jewellery market in a big way via our brand Silvostyle-fashion next," said Gadgil.

As the name suggests, it will be a fashion forward brand focusing on the latest trends in the silver jewellery market across the world. Silvostyle will have jewellery that is sourced from around the world as well as India especially Jaipur and Kolkata.

The fashion forward and millennial friendly brand will be rolled out across 35 stores of PNG Jewellers in a shop in shop model, an e-commerce store as well as Silvostyle Fashion Next Exclusive Boutiques. The brand aims to create a 100 crore business in three years around silver jewellery and semi- fine fashion jewellery.

The brand will focus on showcasing bold, edgy, young and trendy designs created through leading edge innovations in jewellery manufacturing at pocket friendly prices to attract millennials and a growing Gen-Z audience that appreciates fashion forward and future ready brands. Product categories like necklaces, pendant sets, stackable rings, bracelets, charms, earrings etc. will be a part of the product mix adorned with precious as well as semi- precious stones. Collections rolled out by the brand will be in sync with Fashion trends prevalent around the world.

Silvostyle was a pioneering first of its kind Silver Jewellery brand launched by any retail jewellery chain in India around 2013-14. It charted a success story of its own through countrywide marketing campaigns with top Bollywood celebrities, tie ups with Bollywood films etc. A feather in its cap was tying up with Salman Khan starrer Super hit film Bajrangi Bhaijaan and launching India's first ever jewellery merchandise for a Bollywood film, the 'Gadaa Pendant' of Lord Hanuman in Silver.

Future of silver jewellery is very bright in India. Not only is it popular amongst women but it is also popular amongst men today. Silver has also been in use from ancient times. Silver has always been on the landscape and hence acceptance of the same is not a question. Silver is considered to be mainstream in fashion jewellery as well as during weddings, especially in maharashtrian weddings (painjans, and toe rings) there is also craze for Mangalsutras in Silver jewellery.