ATM Dispenses Diamond Jewelry, Gold and Silver

Bollywood star Raima Sen unveils Luxury ATM in Mumbai.

Why accept money from an ATM when you can get diamond jewelry, gold or silver?

A company in India has built what it says is the world’s first machine that dispenses gold, silver, diamond jewelry and religious jewelry.

The Gitanjali Group, the machine’s creator, is calling it an ATM, but I think a vending machine would also be an apt description. These types of machines have been vending gold at certain places around the world for the past few years. But this is the first such machine that also dispenses other precious metals and jewelry.

The first ATM was recently placed at a Mumbai shopping center and introduced with a ceremony featuring a Bollywood star Raima Sen (pictured).

The machine dispenses gold and silver bars, coins, pendants with religious motifs and a range of diamond-studded jewelry. The convenience of this machine will especially come in handy for those last-minute gifts, the company said.

“It has a particular significance in India, where usually such items are purchased as tokens to observe traditions on auspicious days,” Sanjeev Agarwal, CEO, Gitanjali Export Corp. Ltd., said in a statement. “But it also offers choices for occasions like Valentine’s Day, or to a husband who forgot an anniversary or his wife’s birthday”

The ATM uses a touch screen interface and provides consumers a mix of up to 36 options in different sizes, price points and designs across the precious metals and jewelry categories. This may include coins in various grams, pendants with religious motifs, and heart shaped pendants and diamond studded pendants. Prices range from about $20 to $610. Credit and debit cards are accepted.

The ATM is a part of a larger “Go for Gold” umbrella brand initiative created by Gitanjali to promote the purchase of gold—whether in the form of jewelry or coins/bars—and focus attention on the company’s gold products.

It is appropriate that it is the Gitanjali Group that is introducing this ATM concept. The Mumbai-based company is the world’s largest integrated branded diamond jewelry manufacturer. It is one of India’s largest manufacturer of diamonds and diamond and gold jewelry. It has close to 40 brands in several categories, including lifestyle, watches and 19 jewelry brands. Most of its brands use a Bollywood star for its advertising and marketing. Many of its brands are retailed through company-owned branded stores. The company recently acquired several Italian jewelry and watch manufacturers that it has incorporated into its branded marketing concept. It also owns retail chains in the U.S.

The ATM seems to be just one more creative way for the company to sell its many products.

Gitanjali Bids for Two Italian Jewelry Companies

Mehul Choksi

Gitanjali Group has made public the names of two Italian jewelry companies it plans to buy, Bloomberg BusinessWeek reports.

Mehul Choksi, chairman and managing director of Mumbai-India based company, said Friday that the company has placed bids for DIT Group and a company identified as “Valente.”

DIT Group, based in Valenza, operates four Italian brands that focus on contemporary luxury and Italian design. They are Stefan Hafner, Io Sì, Porrati and Nouvelle Bague.

Valente may be the former Valente Milano jewelry brand, known for high-design luxury jewelry. The company reportedly went out of business in April. However, its exclusive distributor in the U.S., Opera Jewels LLC, launched a line that debuted in Las Vegas in June, called “Opera Omnia,” with the Valente staff that is designed to stay true to the Valente style. I will try to verify if this is the brand that Gitanjali is bidding for.

At the end of August, JNN noted that Choksi told an Indian television network that he is finalizing a deal for an Italian brand, but refused to reveal the name of the company. It turns out now that it he was interested in two companies. He said at the time the idea is to market this brand’s products throughout the company’s growing international network, which includes the Samuels and Rogers jewelry chain in the U.S., more than 20 retail brands in India and retail outlets in the Middle East, China and Japan.

Gitanjali Group, which trades in India under the name Gitanjali Gems Ltd., is India’s largest diamond jewelry manufacturer and retailer. Its business portfolio includes rough diamond sourcing, cutting, polishing, jewelry manufacture and distribution to its jewelry branding and retail operations. Its brands include Gili, Nakshatra, Asmi, Sangini, D’damas, Vivaaha and Giantti.

The Dramatic Fall of India’s Largest Jewelry Company

Mehul Choksi, managing director of Gitanjali Group, is under investigation for stock market manipulations.

One of the world’s largest diamond and jewelry companies has quickly fallen on hard times. The Gitanjali Group, which bills itself as the “world’s largest integrated conglomerate of diamonds, jewelry and lifestyle brands,” has seen its share price fall 79 percent in a month, largely due to the Reserve Bank of India's recent restrictions on gold imports that has damaged much of the jewelry trade in the country. However, the latest setback on Thursday appears to have been self afflicted.

Gitanjali’s managing director, Mehul Choksi, has been suspended of trading activities by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), as part of a probe into suspected market manipulations, according to reports by the Economic Times of India and other publications in the country.

Choksi is one of 26 individuals and firms that were suspended Thursday, according to reports. They are all suspected of being linked with a securities and stock brokerage services company called Prime Broking Company (India) Ltd., which also operates under the name Prime Securities. The company is described by The Economic Times as a “significant shareholder” of Gitanjali. Choksi is the leading shareholder of Gitanjali with a 51 percent stake. They are being investigated for allegedly making trades while concealing their identities, according to the report. 

According to a second story in The Economic Times, Gitanjali shares appear to be in the center of this investigation. Several investors reportedly purchased Gitanjali shares through Prime Broking, “which allegedly pledged these without their consent to take exposure on the derivatives segment of NSE.” Two of the suspended parties have filed police reports against Prime Broking.

The company that began in 1966 as a cutting and polishing diamond operation for the jewelry trade has undergone dramatic and expansive growth. Gitanjali now operates on five continents and in just about every sector of the jewelry industry. It is one of India’s largest diamond manufacturers, jewelry manufacturers and retailers. It manufactures rough diamonds, designs and builds jewelry, creates jewelry brands and distributes diamonds and jewelry for wholesale and retail—including its own stores in India, the US and other parts of the world. It claims to be:

* The world’s largest number of established jewelry brands under one roof;

* A distributor and retailer with 4,000 points of sales throughout the world; and

* The largest precious jewelry manufacturer in the world, with the ability to produce 235,000 jewelry pieces per month across nine manufacturing facilities.

In India—in addition to its vast manufacturing, design, distribution and retail operations—it owns approximately 20 jewelry brands, each one fronted by a Bollywood star.

Among its holdings in the US is Samuels Jewelers, the country’s fifth largest retail jewelry chain with 111 stores. In Italy, it owns five jewelry brands under the name “Leading Italian Jewelers,” with the most prominent being luxury jewelry brand Stefan Hafner. It also has large operations in Belgium, UK, Japan, China, Southeast Asia and the Middle East.

If that’s not enough, the company owns 17 watch brands (including Italian brands Morellato and Pirelli) and several brands that deal in household products, particularly tableware and silverware, that include the Italian companies Greggio Argento and Donatella.

Gitanjali’s influence on the worldwide jewelry trade cannot be underestimated. Its suffering may have a domino effect—particularly in India..

The company trades on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) and the National Stock Exchange of India (NSE). Since June 24, the company went from a high of 550 rupees ($9.21) to a low of 115 ($1.93) on the BSE. It last traded at 115.60 rupees.

The impact of this setback will soon be known as markets will open in a few hours.

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Samuels Jewelers Holiday Comps Up 8.4%

Samuels Jewelers retail chain said same store jewelry sales for the nine-week holiday season were up 8.4 percent, driven by an 11.2 percent increase in December. The season kicked off with a record breaking Black Friday. 

The Austin, Texas-based jewelry retailer operates approximately 104 stores in 22 states primarily in the Southwestern U.S. It is owned by Gitanjali Group, the Mumbai, India-based international diamond and jewelry manufacturer and jewelry retailer. 

“Samuels' strong holiday season sales demonstrate that it has struck the right chord with USA customers yet again,” said Mehul Choksi, Gitanjali Group chairman and managing director. “Customers seeking added value were enchanted by the fresh bouquet of Italian jewelry brands like Giantti and Porrati introduced in stores. The new 97-facet ‘Brilliant Fire’ diamond also found popularity with customers.” 

He added, “With the US market showing signs of stabilizing, we are confident of this trend continuing through the upcoming Valentine season.” 

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