Kalyan Jeweller's 36th showroom opened

Aishwarya Rai Bachchan during the inauguration of Kalyan Jeweller’s 36th showroom in Kochi on Sunday.

Thrissur-based Kalyan Jewellers plans to invest Rs 1,000 crore this year to open 15 more showrooms across the country.

The showrooms will be in Gujarat, Maharasthra, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and in Kerala. Showrooms in Warangal, Kukkatpally (Hyderabad), Kancheepuram, Kakkinada and Ahmadabad, will open in the second half of 2012 and would expand to 100 stores spread across India by 2015.

Speaking to reporters in connection with the opening of the 36th showroom in Kochi, T. S. Kalyanaraman, Chairman and Managing Director of Kalyan Jewellers, said the number of showrooms would touch 50 by the end of this year.

He said the group is targeting a turnover of Rs 16,000 crore in the current fiscal. The brand had a turnover of Rs 9,473 crore in the last fiscal. The sales for the first quarter were Rs 2,915 crore, he added.

At present, Kalyan Jewellers has a customer base of more than 7 lakh, which is also the largest in the country, he claimed.

Earlier, the group’s 36th showroom in Kochi was inaugurated on Sunday by Bollywood actor Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and Malayalam actor Dileep.

The showroom has been set up in an area of 20,000 sq feet spread over three floors and offers a variety of jewellery. The largest ever collection of gold- studded designs with silver designs and a collection of gift articles are among those displayed.

The over 100-year-old Kalyan Jewellers recently signed up two mega superstars Amitabh Bachchan and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan as brand ambassadors.