Jewellers in various states have begun reopening retail stores in green zones to very thin sales in the initial days. Many customers visiting their outlest aren't there to make fresh jewellery purchases, but to sell or encash their old ornaments.

Initial indications show jewellery sales have been very thin, at only 15-20 per cent of the sales recorded during the month of May in previous years.

With avrious state governments having allowed jewellers to open up with just a third of manpower, maintain social distancing, and making the use of face masks and sanitisers mandatory, customer visits remained lacklustre. More so, scrap jewellery sales have surged during the initial days of store opening.

“Many jewellers in Karnataka have opened their stores. But sales have been only 15-20 per cent of the normal days,” said Anantha Padmanabhan, Chairman, All India Gems and Jewellery Domestic Council (GJC).

Kalyan Jewellers has started 11 out of 110 stores across the country, of which eight are in Karnataka and one each in Tamil Nadu, Odisha and Assam. With a large average store size, Kalyan focuses on adopting all preventive measures set by the central and state governments.

Tanishq, India’s leading jewellery brand from the house of Tata, announced plans to reopen its 328 stores across the country in phased manner, with first 50 stores opened by May 10.

Tanishq has changed its marketing policy to maintain social distancing. The company encourages selection of jewellery pieces via video and pictures sent by the company to its customers and store visit through appointment basis. The move aims to reduce number of walk in customers to improve service quality and maintain social distancing.

“Stores are opened in a phased manner to ensure zero-defect compliance,” said Ajoy Chawla, Chief Executive Officer, Jewellery Division at Titan Company which sells Tanishq brand precious ornaments.

Kolkata-based Senco Gold & Diamonds, the largest jewellery retail chain from Eastern India, has announced the re-opening of its stores across green and orange zones in four states -West Bengal, Odisha, Assam and Karnataka.

To bring the economy back on track, the government of Maharashtra has also allowed commencement of operations at the designated gems and jewellery export units in the areas of Municipal Corporations of Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) during Covid-19 lockdown only for fulfilling export commitments with 10 per cent of workforce.

Going forward, as more and more stores open and in wider geography, old gold or scrap jewellery sales are likely to rise by 50 per cent this year, a third of total annual figure in the next three months, due to sudden emergence of unemployment generated because of closure of factories in the seven-week nationwide lockdown to prevent spread of coronavirus (Covid-19).

“Every such couple has some quantity of gold holding which remains the last hope for survival. We, therefore, see at least 50 per cent increase in sales of scrap jewellery especially in the north Indian states like Bihar, Utter Pradesh and West Bengal where most migrant workers belong to. Since the jewellery stores have started opening in green zones, we see at least a third of annual gold sales to happen in the next three months,” said Surendra Mehta, National Secretary, India Bullion and Jewellers Association (IBJA).

Mehta expects 60-70 tonnes of gold to be recovered from scrap jewellery sales in the next three months.

“We are expecting nearly 40 per cent of our sales to be sourced through own sources which means in house conversion of scrap jewellery, bought from customers, into gold,” said Ramesh Kalyanaraman, Executive Director, Kalyan Jewellers.