Kalyan Jewelers started from Kerala, spread to the world: MD and Executive Directors told the company’s story of the company becoming jewelery brand started with textiles

T.S. Kalyanraman told about his debut, ‘We have been in business for four generations. My father T.K. Sitaram Iyer and Grandpa T.S. Kalyanraman Iyer was in textile retail and manufacturing. I started Kalyan Jewelers in 1993. It was natural to come from textile to jewelery, because the customers themselves used to say, “You are reliable in textiles, so why not jewelery?” Our family has been in Thrissur for more than 100 years. The trust of the people there became our strength, which dared us to step into the jewelery business. ‘

Jewelery shopping was different at that time. Small shops, after ordering, had to wait for weeks. Kalyanaraman family wanted to change it. T.S. Kalyanaraman said, ‘Customers in textile used to buy the finished goods immediately. But the jewelery used to have small shops (200-300 square feet), where he had to wait 10-15 days after seeing the catalog. We reversed it. We opened a 4,000 -square -foot showroom, where the prepared jewelery was available. Due to the trust made in textile, the customers got great response from the first day.

Kalyan Jewelers founder T.S. Welfare

Extension and challenges: Learning to understand local choice

By 2010, Kalyan Jewelers had 35 showrooms in Kerala, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh. But every step was not easy. Rajesh Kalyanraman laughed and said, ‘In 2000 we opened the second showroom in Palakkad, which is 70 km from Thrissur. We copied the horny model – the same shop size, goods, price, and marketing. But the result was not found. We understood that the choice of the customers of Palakkad was different. He preferred designs like Coimbatore, wanted flexibility at a price, and the hopes of service were also different. Advertisement was also needed more chopped.

Kalyanaraman said, ‘We got a big lesson. To be successful, we have to understand the local choice of everywhere, not to impose a similar brand. We kept thinking long. We understood that waiting for full efficiency in every state will slow down. We went to two-three new states every year. By 2019-20, we made a strong presence across the country. Then the effect started appearing.

Ramesh told, ‘This brand is in our heart. I entered business at the age of 19. But just passion was not enough to become a national brand. In 2012, we brought professional leadership, such as COO and a team of 100 people of mid-level management. Today we make a strategy, but the daily work is handled by professionals.

In 2021, Kalyan Jewelers brought an IPO of Rs 1,175 crore and entered the stock market. Amitabh Bachchan became the face of the brand in 2013. Later, stars like Katrina Kaif, Rashmika Mandana, Jahnavi Kapoor, Kriti Sanon, Kalyani Priyadarshan, Nagarjuna, Prabhu Ganesan and Shiva Rajkumar were added, which led to the identity of the brand in every field.

Kalyan bought Candere and entered e-commerce. Ramesh said: “We were strong in offline, but did not have a hurry in e-commerce. Invested in Candere and then bought it completely. Now we are both offline and online.”

Today’s situation (31 March 2025):