Kalyan Jewellers’ chairman and managing director T S Kalayanaraman, is the wealthiest jeweller in India with a personal fortune of USD 1.3 billion, says Wealth-X report.

Kalayanaraman opened his first jewellery shop in Thrissur City in 1993 with only USD 100,000 capital, and his business has now expanded to 32 showrooms across South India. His personal fortune is worth USD 1.3 billion.

Nirav Modi was ranked second on the Wealth-X list of India’s wealthiest jewellers with an estimated net worth of USD 1.1 billion.

“Born into a family of Indian diamantaires, Modi left the family business in 1999 and launched his own company, Firestar Diamonds. In 2007, Firestar Diamonds acquired New York-based Sandberg & Sikorski,” it said.

The third on the list is M P Ahammed, with a personal fortune of USD 1 billion. Ahammed had opened the first Malabar Gold & Diamond showroom with only USD 70,000.

Others on the list include, Bhima Jewellers’ B Govindan with a personal wealth of USD 620 million, Kiran Gems’ Vallabhbhai S Patel (USD 590 million), Laxmi Diamond’s Vasant Gajera (USD 580 million), Dharmanandan Diamonds’ Laljibhai Patel (USD 480 million), Kiran Gems’ Babubhai Lakhani (USD 470 million), Kiran Gems’ Mavji Bhai Patel (USD 410 million) and Rajesh Exports’ Rajesh Mehta (USD 310 million).

Wealth-X provides insight into the ultra wealthy with the world’s largest collection of curated research on ultra high net worth individuals.

“The gems and jewellery industry is among India’s fastest growing sectors fuelled by UHNWs affinity for jewellery and the fact that they view it as an important store of value. For India’s ultra wealthy jewellers, all that glitters is gold!,” Sahil Mehta, director, Indian subcontinent at Wealth–X said.

source: http://www.deccanherald.com / Deccan Herald / Home> National / PTI / Singapore – July 01st, 2015