Recession forces jewellers to organise festival

Kochi: In the light of the recession continuing to affect the Indian jewellery trade, especially with the small jewellers bearing most of the brunt, the gold and silver merchants in Ernakulam, Kerala, are organising a gold festival from 14 August 2002.

The festival is considered different from the earlier festivals conducted by the jewellers as it invites participation from the small players of the industry, too. The festival, to be conducted by the Ernakulam District Gold and Silver Merchants Association under the auspices of the World Gold Council, will involve all the 400 jeweller members of the association who have sales tax registration.

The association had disassociated from the earlier mega-festivals as they were organised by big jewellers and as it felt that it would harm the interests of the small jewellers. A large chunk of the members are small jewellers. The gold festival, named Swarnolsavam, will continue till December 2002. This is to cash in on the other festivals like Deepavali and Christmas, say association president Babu Alappat, general secretary Joseph Madathiparambil and festival committee chairman Paul Alukkas.

The customers will get a gift coupon for buying gold ornaments from the member shops and there is no minimum limit for the purchase. The jewellers can use their discretion in issuing the gift coupons. The jewellers, having the minimum stock of 200 kg of gold, are participating in the event. The registration fees have been fixed between Rs 300 and Rs 25,000, depending on each jeweller’s stock.

The programme will be inaugurated at the office of the association at Pioneer Towers by Kerala Chamber of Commerce and Industry president P Bhaskaran by giving the first gift coupon to Jose Alappat. The first draw of coupons will be on 29 September 2002.

The second phase will begin one day after and the draw will be on 17 November 2002. The third draw of coupons will be on 29 December 2002. In all, there will be prizes worth over Rs 20 lakh, including the first prize (Ford Ikon car), second prize (Honda Activa scooter) and sovereign gold coins to 27 people for each draw.

The association office-bearers say the programme, if found successful, will be repeated next year. A part of the proceeds of the festival will be used to set up the state office of the association called Swarna Bhavan at the land owned by it on IS Press Road, Kochi.