Aditya Birla Group forays into branded jewellery biz; to invest ₹5,000 cr

Kumar Mangalam Birla-led Aditya Birla group is set to foray into the branded jewellery retail business with an investment of around ₹5,000 crore. The new business will be housed under a new venture, 'Novel Jewels Ltd', and will build large-format exclusive jewellery retail stores across India, which will feature in-house jewellery brands.

The company says the new venture will create an "aspirational" national brand, with unique designs and a strong regional flavour. "This marks the group’s third major foray into a new business in the last two years, following paints and B2B e-commerce for building materials."

Kumar Mangalam Birla, chairman, Aditya Birla Group said the group's foray into branded jewellery retail is a strategic portfolio choice that allows it to tap into new growth engines and expand its presence in the vibrant Indian consumer landscape. "With rising disposable income, discerning and aspirational consumers are leaning more towards design-led, bespoke, and high-quality jewellery. This venture will capitalise on Aditya Birla Group’s deep expertise in lifestyle retail and nuanced understanding of consumer preferences,” said the tycoon.

Some of the major branded jewellery brands in India are Tata Group's Tanishq, Malabar Gold and Diamonds, CaratLane, and Kalyan Jewellers, among others. The company says the branded jewellery retail venture will be operated by a newly recruited leadership team with deep retail and category expertise.

Notably, India's gems and jewellery market contributes around 7% to the GDP. The jewellery market is projected to grow to $90 billion by 2025. Amid this rapid growth, a steady transition from an unorganised to an organised sector is being observed.

The company's foray into branded jewellery comes three months after it announced the launch of a premium casual dining space with chef-restaurateur Rahul Akerkar. The group's hospitality arm housed under Aditya Birla New Age (ABNA) will build premium casual dining restaurant chains across India, said the company. ABNA currently operates Jolie's, a members-only club, that spans across 30,000 square feet at Worli, Mumbai.

Before that, TMRW, an Aditya Birla Group venture, tied up with eight digital-first lifestyle brands to create a leading technology-led digital-first ‘House of Brands’ business. The company says TMRW has achieved a revenue run-rate of ₹700 crore, and is on a path to cross an annual revenue rate of ₹1,500 crore in the next 12 months.

Separately, Aditya Birla group's Aditya Birla Capital Limited has announced that the company’s board of directors has approved preferential issuance of ₹1,250 crore to its promoter and promoter group entity, of the total approved equity fundraising of up to ₹3,000 crore. The preferential issuance will be undertaken at the price of ₹165.1 per equity share, as per SEBI ICDR Regulations and is subject to shareholder approval.

With a workforce of 1,80,000 employees, the Aditya Birla group operates in the areas of metals, pulp and fibre, cement, chemicals, textiles, carbon black, financial services, fashion retail, renewable energy and trading, among others.