A third-generation heir of M/s Waman Hari Pethe Jewellers, established in Mumbai way back in 1909, Ashish Pethe comes with decades of experience in the jewellery sector and has been a Partner of Waman Hari Pethe & Sons since 1995.
Having aced his bachelor’s degree B.E. (ELECTRICAL) from VJTI, Mumbai; followed by an MBA (Marketing) from Symbiosis Institute of Business Management, Pune with Distinction, Ashish Pethe also completed a certificate course in Diamond Grading from International Gemological Institute. Besides, taking care of the jewellery business, Ashish Pethe has been actively involved with trade bodies at various levels.
Till recently, Ashish Pethe held the post of Chairman of All India Gem and Jewellery Domestic Council (GJC), during which period he took all steps to transform and energize jewellers across India and bring more synergies within the indigenous industry.
Here, in an exclusive Interview with Rough&Polished, Ashish Pethe takes us through the Company, M/s Waman Hari Pethe, the Indian domestic jewellery sector, and articulates the nuances of the traditional jewellery market.
Can you update us about Waman Hari Pethe Group and its growth graph over the year? What additional projects or diversifications have been started since the establishment?
Waman Hari Pethe Jewellers was established in 1909 by our founders Shri Ganesh Hari Pethe & Shri Waman Hari Pethe. What started as a small showroom at Girgaum, South Mumbai has turned into a multistate 25-showroom-strong retail Jewellery Chain.
Pethe family members have ventured into other areas like engineering, construction, and education over the years, but the family has primarily stayed with Gems and Jewellery Retailing as its core business.
We have reached a milestone of 25 showrooms already and plan to reach a network of 50 showrooms in the coming 5 years.
Give us an overall view of the kind/design of jewellery offered by WHP. What is the demand for traditional jewellery versus demand for modern jewellery; Plain gold versus colour stones/ diamond studded jewellery at your outlets?
Waman Hari Pethe Jewellers is known as a one-stop shop for all the needs in Gems and Jewellery. We offer designs and products in Gold, Silver, Diamonds & Platinum. WHP, as Waman Hari Pethe Jewellers is popularly known, is famous for traditional Maharashtrian jewellery.
People travel long distances to come to WHP to buy our special traditional Maharashtrian jewellery pieces. But as our consumer has changed with time so has WHP.
For the past 12 years, we have created a unique design collection line called “Navinya Collection “ which offers fusion collections. This collection draws inspiration from traditional Maharashtrian jewellery motifs and combines them with modern design sensibilities. All the collections have been raging success, Navinya Thushi, Navinya Tanmani, and Navinya Nath to name a few.
WHP stocks exclusive collections in plain as well as studded jewellery.
Does WHP supply jewellery to all regions in India? What is the trend region-wise in terms of gold jewellery? Do you plan to export to regions populated by Indians globally?
The name Waman Hari Pethe Jewellers is known across India. A survey done by the Economic Times a couple of years back named 'WHP' among the top 10 jewellery brands across India.
Our jewellery is bought across India. We have physical stores in three states namely Maharashtra, Goa & Madhya Pradesh. Each state and region have their peculiar jewellery trends and designs.
Incidentally, we see trends differ from district to district in Maharashtra as well as region to region in Mumbai City. We have a full-fledged Merchandising and design team which tracks the trends and takes care of the right supply.
We have a dedicated online portal www.whpjewellers. in that caters to the online demand for jewellery and caters to demand from across the world.
Do you see demand for platinum and other precious metal including white gold jewellery increasing in India because Z Gen is not very keen on flashy yellow gold? Is there a demand for such jewellery in your outlets, and in what volume compared to normal gold jewellery?
Platinum and other metals are slowly gaining in popularity but if you compare them with gold products it is still low.
Apart from adornment gold addresses many other needs like insurance, hedge against inflation, Store of value, and Shreedhan to name a few. I think this makes gold‘s position difficult to challenge.
Keeping in mind the sensibilities of the Gen-next, we are making use of different finishes, colours, textures and styles of gold jewellery.
Does WHP deal in lab-grown diamond (LGD) jewellery as well? According to reports, demand for LGD jewellery is picking up in India supported by Gen Z. Your opinion?
At WHP we currently are not dealing in lab grown diamonds. It’s a sunrise sector, especially in the export area.
There are a couple of LGD brands that have been set up in India.
We are taking the considered decision whether to launch our own LGD brand. The decision is yet to be made.
Since the price of LGD is a small fraction of natural diamonds it has created a separate category for itself and sooner or later it will have to be embraced by the industry, including WHP.
The government of India is set to ban the sale of gold jewellery and gold artefacts without the hallmark of HUID number from April 1. Your views?
I was lucky to be a part of the Expert Committee set up by the Ministry of Consumer Affairs for the implementation of Mandatory Hallmarking and thereafter the High-Level Advisory Committee set up by the ministry.
HUID was started in July 2021 immediately after the implementation of Mandatory Hallmarking in 256 districts. It automated the process at Assaying and hallmarking centre (AHC). Jewellery is a product where it can take 8-10 years to sell a particular product.
So we had requested the BIS to allow the sale of old 4-mark hallmarked jewellery. BIS and Ministry had consented to our request. In March this year, Ministry came out with a notification banning the sale and storage of old 4-mark jewellery.
Since the time was very short all the associations had requested Ministry to give more time to convert old stock to HUID and they have consented to give three months more time to convert old, hallmarked jewellery to HUID. I think the time should be sufficient to convert old stock to HUID.
As per reports, India’s gold demand is to rebound over 800 tonnes this year. Do you see gold smuggling increasing in the coming months? Your thoughts?
India’s gold imports have been hovering around 700-800 tonnes past many years. Recently the import duty was increased to 15% plus GST taking it to around 18.45%. This incentivises the unscrupulous elements to smuggle gold. It has been observed that with an increase in import duty smuggling increases.
All the associations have requested the government to rationalise the import duty on Gold. Smuggling and parallel trade create problems for the formalised/organised trade who have invested in stocks and property and has large banking facilities. They have employed substantial manpower whose livelihoods are at stake.
We also appreciate the government’s concerns about the Balance of Payment and Forex reserves. We have requested the government to revamp the Gold Monetisation Scheme (GMS) and make it more investor friendly making necessary operational changes at RBI so that the domestic gold reserves can be put to use reducing the dependence on gold imports.
Aruna Gaitonde, Editor in Chief of the Asian Bureau, Rough&Polished
