‘Only 8 of every 100 jewellery pieces in India have diamonds; there’s a lot of room to grow’: Forevermark global CEO Shweta Harit

At a time when demand for luxury apparel, watches, bags, and shoes seems to be plateauing, the one segment that finds enough takers is fine diamond jewellery. No wonder, Indian designers such as Manish Malhotra, Sabyasachi, and even filmmaker Karan Johar have forayed into fine jewellery. Popular jewellery brands such as Tanishq are also patronising their diamond jewellery collection, and so are jewellers such as TBZ and Joy Alukkas.

The Indian woman’s appetite for smart, versatile jewellery that she can wear to work as well as for an evening do is driving this trend. And that explains Forevermark’s rationale to choose India as its launchpad for large-format retail stores. The De Beers Group-backed diamond jewellery brand, known for its light-weight collections typically found in shop-in-shop formats, is now looking to build a $100-million business in India through a network of 100 stores over the next five years.

In conversation with Fortune India, Shweta Harit, the global senior vice-president of De Beers Group and CEO of Forevermark, firmly believes that this is the best time for the global jewellery brand to scale operations in India.

Edited excerpts:

India has always been a gold jewellery market where the bulk of gold consumption happens during weddings. A large segment also buys for investment. Diamond jewellery is still niche. It will be interesting to get your perspective on the Indian jewellery market.  

There is a growing demand for diamond jewellery. We see a change in the Indian customer, who is well-travelled. It’s the right time to bring international designs here. The contemporary Indian woman is willing to indulge in jewellery, which is not necessarily plain gold. There is also a growing trend of self-purchase. All of us in this room are wearing something contemporary, which is not necessarily plain gold. That’s the trend we want to capture.

The Indian woman is increasingly wanting to buy contemporary diamond jewellery for her milestones, as she realises that what was bought for her wedding could end up sitting in her locker.

Forevermark has always been in India in shop-in-shop formats. It has been known for its light-weight diamond jewellery that one could typically wear to work. How different would the new avatar of Forevermark be?

You were always entering someone else’s door and seeing us there. If I am launching my own store, I have to build my brand and have a narrative. As I mentioned, there is a market for contemporary jewellery in India. So, to begin with, all our jewellery is designed in Milan. The designs are culturally rooted, but will have an international look and feel. We will sell the traditional mangalsutra or a diamond choker, but we will give it an international flavour. We will be a diamond-first brand.

While the demand for diamond jewellery is growing in India and Indian legacy brands are investing in it, the market is still quite small. What’s going to be your biggest task?  

In the U.S., if you take 100 pieces of jewellery, 70 have diamonds in it, in India only eight out of 100 contain diamonds. There is still a lot of room to grow. Competition is not what we need to worry about. We need to worry about growing the entire pie at this point.

Brands such as Tiffany and Cartier have set up shop in India. But they serve the luxury consumers. Even Indian designers such as Manish Malhotra or Sabyasachi, who have forayed into fine diamond jewellery, cater to luxury consumers. Forevermark will cater to the masses who don’t look at diamond jewellery as an investment. The popular belief is that diamond jewellery doesn’t have resale value. What are you going to do to change this perception?

De Beers will be our endorser. Since we come from the De Beers Group, we can tell the mine-to-finger story. Even from a sustainability point of view, Indian consumers want to know where their diamond comes from.

We will be the only one in the market that can talk about mine-to-finger. We know where your stone came from, and it will carry an inscription. There aren’t too many who are diamond-first and can tell that story fully. Just as in traditional jewellery stores where you get buyback for your gold jewellery, the Forevermark stores would also offer a similar experience. You will get full value for the diamond jewellery whenever you want to exchange it. 

Lab-grown diamonds are gaining popularity. Isn’t it a matter of concern?

Lab-grown diamonds have challenges. Their prices across the world have crashed by 90%. If you bought a lab-grown diamond a year ago, you will get only 10% of the value back. In a market like India, we are conscious of what we buy, and we buy it for legacy and posterity.

But isn’t the narrative of lab-grown diamonds picking up from a sustainability perspective?

The sustainability narrative is debatable because the ingredients that go into lab-grown diamonds come from mines. There is a lot of talk about how furnaces are used to make lab-grown diamonds. The jury is out on who is more sustainable. Our practices are completely sustainable; we will be a carbon-neutral business by 2030.

Coming back to Forevermark, is there a particular reason why you chose India to launch the new avatar of Forevermark?

For us as a brand, there is awareness in this market. We chose India specifically for that. There is legacy awareness upon which we are going to build. We are going for a strong business model which we will test for the next 18-24 months, and once we see it working, it will be an India out story as well.