Rough&Polished brief. Rajesh Gandi, the founder of Choron Diamonds, a lapidary and jewellery company, belongs to the Indian family of diamond dealers engaged in diamond cutting and jewellery business for about 100 years. Their firm's lapidary workshops and trade missions are located in India, Belgium, Singapore, Luxembourg, Hon-Kong and the United Arab Emirates. In Russia Choron Diamonds has lapidary workshops in Yakutsk and Vladivostok. The annual turnover of this company exceeds $200 million.
- How and why have you turned out to be in Russia?
- In 1996 the Government of Yakutia invited some foreign businessmen well-known in this industry to cooperate with the aim of developing local lapidary business. It is not a secret that I was attracted by the opportunity to obtain direct access to rough diamonds of Yakutia. Two years later I started to receive stones from YaPTA (Yakutia Company for Diamond Trade, a division of ALROSA. Editor.) and we put into operation our first lapidary workshop in Yakutsk. We brought in equipment, invited our experts and trained local diamond cutters. In 2002 there opened another on in Vladivostok. The authorized capital of Choron Diamonds was drawn from the funds of our head firm in India.
- In the middle 90s Yakutia saw the emergence of tens of lapidary and jewellery companies many of which were quick to leave the market succumbing to competition. How did you manage to stay on?
- I work with small stones – the “Indian goods”. We are able to make diamonds weighing 0.005 carats. In this sector in Russia, we have almost no competitors. As far as the jewellery production is concerned, we are winning here because of our own technological inventions; for example we have devised a setting with special “invisible” fixation of stones due to which several diamonds “merge” and seem to be one large diamond which makes a $1 500 ring look like a $15 000 ring. Of course, our competitors are up and doing and this is why every year we bring to Russia diamond setting know-how developed by our company’s production designers and immediately introduce these methods into commercial production. In a year, we shall produce jewellery articles with stones having no any settings at all. Diamond always pays back but the mechanism used to derive profit required continuous improvement.
- Where do your workshops in Yakutsk and Vladivostok dispatch their products?
- Approximately 25% are consumed by the domestic market in Russia and the rest is exported, mainly to Hon-Kong, Belgium and the Emirates.
- Today the Russian economy is living through a period of evident revival. What is the outlook for the Russian jewellery market to your mind?
- The average price of our jewellery pieces varies in the range of $500 - $1500. From our point of view, in Russia there is a rapidly growing number of people who are ready to buy jewellery at such prices and on the whole the market outlook is favorable. This is why we have decided to create our own retail network in Russia. By the end of 2007 in Moscow, there will appear three Choron Diamond stores with an area of 100-150 square meters each. By 2009, we shall invest about $65 million to open 40 stores in Moscow and Saint Petersburg. By that time, we plan to turn out around 60 000 jewellery articles every year. Today our products are sold by almost 240 stores; however, our own retail network will permit to follow a more flexible pricing policy and I believe that it will be possible to speak of decreasing prices by 20-25% as compared with those set by our dealers. We also plan to expand the range of our products – the diamond jewellery articles will be topped with “stoneless” gold items.
- The lapidary business and such large-scale plans to develop a retail sales network require great working assets. How do you solve the problem of crediting your ventures in Russia?
- The high business standing of Choron Diamonds is appreciated by Russian crediting agencies. We maintain wonderful relations with Yakutia banks and we are a VIP-client of Sberbank of the Russian Federation.
- Choron Diamonds jewellery is manufactured in Russia and in Mumbai. What other manufacturers will be represented in your stores?
- I have just returned from the jewellery fair in Vicenza where we reached a framework agreement on cooperation with several large Italian firms. In the nearest future, we plan to sign contracts for sale of their products in the Russian market. I worked on this project during the last nine months.
- Did anyone of your compatriots try to follow the way of Choron Diamonds in Russia?
- Today I know five Indian companies working in the Russian market. All of them are doing good business. I am glad that representatives of our business make a worthy contribution into the development of relations between our countries.
