Indian Jeweler Becomes Billionaire as Gold Price Surges

By Netty Ismail, Zohair Siraj & Swansy Afonso - Jan 21, 2013 7:40 PM ET

T.S. Kalyanaraman is beloved by his customers and detested by his rivals for bringing transparency to jewelry sales in India, where haggling is the norm.

 

Aishwarya Rai, Bollywood actress and Kalyan Jewellers' national brand ambassador, poses for a promotional material. Source: Kalyan Jewellers via Bloomberg

 

T.S.Kalyanaraman, chairman and managing director of Kalyan Jewellers, poses for a photograph in his office in Thrissur, Kerala, India 

He opened a shop in the southern Indian state of Kerala in 1993 and taught customers how to test the purity of their gold to expose cheating craftsmen. He was also the first jeweler in town to attach price tags to his gold and gem collection, angering competitors who accused him of ruining the trade.

Two decades later, the 65-year-old has become a billionaire as a 12-year rally in gold prices fails to damp demand in India, the world’s largest consumer of the precious metal. He owns 44 stores in India and plans to open 36 more by March 2014, including five in the Middle East.

“Less profit, more turnover; that is what we believe in,” Kalyanaraman, chairman of Kalyan Jewellers, said in a phone interview from Kerala. “Be as transparent as you can in your trade. The big thing in life is trust.”