Diamond Details

Bringing the best in the world is The Diamond Store By Chandubhai (Unit of Hallmark Jewellers), Asia’s first hallmark certified jewellery manufacturer. Headed by Kotti Srikanth, son of Chandubhai (Chandraprakash), this store offers a diverse collection of classy, elegant diamond jewellery, handcrafted to suit both the ethnic and contemporary tastes. We speak to the men representing two generations and find out how they turn their outlet as the hot spot for jewellery lovers.

- Anahita Ahuja

 Chadubhai makes the opening remarks…

My father, the late Mr.Kishtaiah, was in the jewellery business. I joined him in 1973 at the age of 13. To start with, I handled sales & gradually learnt to evaluate jewellery. In 1982, I set up my firm Chanubhai Jewellers and in a decade’s time we started exporting. Later, I launched one of the largest jewellery showrooms in the twin cities at Ameerpet in 1997.

Achievements

When I entered the scene, there was ambiguity with 19k gold jewellery being passed off as 22k. There was no quality control and the customer had no way to judge the genuineness. I set out with a dream to give quality jewellery to the customer, but did not know how to go about it. In 1996, I wrote to Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS), India’s National Standard Body urging them to introduce some kind of quality control and certification of gold jewellery. I later came to know that this was a good four years before BIS even thought of introducing Hallmark. In April 2000, BIS implemented the Hallmark Scheme with support from  the World Gold Council. I established a full-fledged quality control laboratory to obtain the first license as Hallmark Certified Gold Jewellery Manufacturer. In 2009, under supervision of Srikanth we opened another store at Abids in the name of Hallmark Jewellers.

Challenges