Jewellers in the region are expecting their sales to rise after facing rough weather due to the slowdown. The jewellers said the festival and the wedding seasons were likely to increase their business as they were expecting more footfalls in the coming days.

However, this year, they said that shine of the yellow metal may pale out in the sheen of diamond jewellery that was showing exceptional growth. The sales of the jewellery traders reflect the growing tendency to buy diamonds over gold. Balram Garg, MD, P C Jewellers, said that over the last few years, the volume of sales of diamond had doubled in comparison to gold.

Reasons for growth in diamond jewellery in comparison to gold are many, according to Garg. With prices of gold skyrocketing in the past, people have shifted their preference to diamond. In the last few years, the prices of gold have moved up by 30-40 per cent but prices of diamond are more stable and this stability is attracting the attention of people.

Garg said share of diamond jewellery had moved up from 20-40 per cent and in the coming years he was expecting that gold and diamond would be on the same platform.

Meanwhile, commenting on the festival season, Garg added that P C Jewellers was definitely bullish over the upcoming festival season. He added that the first two days of 'Navratras' have seen 30 per cent growth in jewellery business and he was expecting the same trend to continue for the remaining period as well.

Confirming the preference for diamond, Tanishq Regional Business Manager (North), said that the sale of diamond jewellery clocked in a growth of about 50 per cent and that of gold about 30 per cent.

He added that the availability of imitation jewellery in umpteen designs was not able to make a dent on their sales and was confident that this trend would get reinforced next year when the economy comes out of the negative sentiments.