The people of Kanpur may have divergent views on many things, but the one fact they will all uniformly proclaim, and proudly, is: “You know, Kanpur was known as the Manchester of the East”. This is the identity that has shaped the city and which looms over the city even today. After the British quelled the First War of Independence in 1857, for which Kanpur was an important centre, they set about making it the hub of their industrial and business activities. Textiles and leather factories sprung up and it was the headquarters of the British India Corporation which spearheaded the development of several other industries as well. Indian industrialists were quick to take up the opportunity and began to set up factories for various manufacturing processes from 1857 onwards too. %% Along with the setting up of industries came the development of infrastructure to support these, which continued to be strengthened till the 1900s. %% “In the 1900s, Kanpur had excellent infrastructure,” says Shreyans Kapoor of Kashi Jewellers, one of the leading jewellery businesses in the city and indeed the state. “Connectivity is of great importance to any industry, and Kanpur had a very well developed rail network. So much so that the rail lines went right upto the godowns of the large factories, and they could take bogeys of goods trains right to the door-step so to speak. Later on, somewhere in the 1970s or so, the airport came up and there were daily flights to Delhi, Kolkata and Mumbai. However, today the situation is different. There are far fewer flights and we have to drive to Lucknow to connect to other cities within India; and to Delhi for international flights.”%% The Manchester of the East lost some of its glory since the late 1990s. Yet, Kanpur remains amongst the top ten industrialised cities of India. Though some of the earlier units have closed or fallen sick, there is yet a fairly thriving industries in operation. Leather and textiles continue to be important; there are, additionally, chemicals, fertilizers, and engineering industries amongst others; more recently, the city has become an important centre for the manufacture of soaps, masalas and paan masala. Added to this is the education sector which has developed since the mid 1900s, most notably the IIT Kanpur set up in 1959, as well as an agricultural university and several technical institutes. Kanpur has been attracting the BPO sector; it is also a large ordinance centre and manufactures arms, parachutes etc.%%

Though a number of industries set down roots and thrived, Kanpur was never considered an important jewellery manufacturing centre. Like in all other cities towns and villages of India, it had a retail presence – the fact that it was home to rich industrialists, virtually made this mandatory. It was an important wholesale centre catering to the nearby villages and towns, and continues to be one even today. %% “Birhana Road is the nerve centre of the retail jewellery trade, and has the largest concentration of jewellers in the city,” explains Rakesh Goel of Kadambari Jewellers. “Chowk Sarafa is the oldest jewellery trading centre from where much of the wholesale trade took place. Jewellers from all over the area came here to purchase jewellery. Now of course the retail trade holds pre-dominance.”%% Concurring with him, Ruchir Rastogi of Lala Jugal Kishore & Sons says, “The jewellery industry has been developing very well since the last 20 years.” They themselves chose to shift from Lucknow to Kanpur in 1982 and set up shop there. Rastogi recalls that even as late as the 1980s, there were only a handful of jewellery retailers; today their numbers have swelled considerably.%% Goel estimates that there would be around 55-60 retailers on Birhana Road alone. Kapoor, who represents the third generation of his family in the jewellery business, estimates that there Kanpur has around 100 or so retailers, big and small, of which about 10 to 12 would count as really large ones, who also stock diamond jewellery. “There are not many new jewellers coming in,” adds Kapoor. “Tanishq came very late into this market. They started with a showroom in another area and have recently opened one on Birhana Road.”%% What jewellery manufacturing exists in Kanpur is mainly of traditional gold jewellery, catering mainly to the lower end of the market, and that too in fairly small units, in the unorganised sector. “The jewellery manufactured here is mainly of the lightweight variety – dye, openwork,” says Goel. “The work is clean and good.”%% While most retailers source their jewellery from the local manufacturers or from other cities like Mumbai, Delhi, Ahmedabad and so on, there are a few like Kashi Jewellers and Lala Jugal Kishore & Sons who have their own manufacturing units in Kanpur itself.%%

“Apart from our retail business, we also export jewellery and hence we have our own manufacturing units here,” says Kapoor. “We are also one of the few to manufacture our own diamond jewellery.” What is more, the factory is organised along modern lines, with the artisans and staff getting all benefits and facilities. %% Lala Jugal Kishore & Sons also manufactures its own gold and diamond jewellery. “We source our diamonds from Surat,” Rastogi informs us. “In the North, generally the trend is for SI quality and JKL colours to be used. That is the case with almost 95 per cent of jwellery. What differentiates us from most other jewellers is that we only keep GH colours and VVS diamonds.”%% However, gold jewellery still constitutes the bulk of the business in this city. “Earlier the ratio may have been around 90:10 between gold and diamond jewellery; today I would say it is about 70:30,” says Kapoor. “De Beers’ efforts have really boosted diamond jewellery sales and it is only going up.”%% “Diamond jewellery sales have been seeing 20 per cent growth,” adds Goel.%% From all accounts the demographic of consumers in Kanpur is slightly different from most other larger cities. %% “In Kanpur we have two types of consumers,” elaborates Goel. “Either there are the rich industrialists, or the labour class.”%% Concurring with the view, Rastogi bemoans, “Either we have the high class or the lower middle class; Kanpur lacks a strong upper middle class population.” Needless to say, the spending by the two groups of consumers varies vastly. For upper classes, jewellery purchases are anywhere upwards of Rs. 2 lakh. %% Though the traditional consumers at the lower end are not fussy, everyone is agreed that tastes of the high end consumers in Kanpur have developed considerably. “The consumers of Kanpur are, nowadays, very concerned about design,” says Rastogi. “They are aware of trends all over the world and are also getting increasingly quality conscious. We welcome that as it makes it easier for us to sell the product.”%% “Design is very important , you cannot do without good design,” exclaims Kapoor. “At Kashi, we have been emphasising that element a lot – the number of awards we win for our jewellery is testimony to that.”%% Goel adds, “For about 60 per cent of our consumers, it is a matter of routine sales; but 40 per cent of our consumers are always wanting variety, they always want to know what is new in Mumbai, in Delhi. They surf the internet and search for designs. There is a lot of awareness amongst our consumers today.” %%

Summing up the current trends in the Kanpur market Kapoor says: “The type of jewellery bought depends on the season and the consumer – for example, during the winter wedding season obviously it is mainly heavy sets and jewellery; Holi time is generally lean and only very light jewellery is generally bought; the summer weddings are generally more in the villages, and then too the jewellery sold is on the lighter side; Kundan is doing well; polki was much in demand but the rise in prices has pushed down sales somewhat. Colouredstones are generally popular and they tend to give a spread for the budget. Pearls are also doing very well – again as there is a larger look for a smaller budget. Diamonds rings and earrings are generally in demand too, while diamond necklaces or sets are purchased for special occasions.” %% While all are gung-ho about the retail market currently, there is concern at the macro level too.%% “Jewellery retail is doing well presently,” explains Kapoor. “But for an industry to keep thriving there is a need for adequate infrastructure and the growth of the city’s economy so that newer sections of consumers are added. What we have is the old businesses and old time industrial families. And the infrastructural growth has been neglected over the years by both state and centre.”%% The fact that Kanpur has been named as a Counter Magnet city of the National Capital Region, in a plan that hopes to develop other centres to which migration can flow rather than be concentrated in the NCR, should hopefully give the necessary boost to development of both the economy and infrastructure of Kanpur. A move which will perhaps restore it to its former glory and create the basis for the jewellery industry to do even better and grow by leaps and bounds.%%

The people of Kanpur may have divergent views on many things, but the one fact they will all uniformly proclaim, and proudly, is: “You know, Kanpur was known as the Manchester of the East”. This is the identity that has shaped the city and which looms over the city even today. After the British quelled the First War of Independence in 1857, for which Kanpur was an important centre, they set about making it the hub of their industrial and business activities. Textiles and leather factories sprung up and it was the headquarters of the British India Corporation which spearheaded the development of several other industries as well. Indian industrialists were quick to take up the opportunity and began to set up factories for various manufacturing processes from 1857 onwards too. %% Along with the setting up of industries came the development of infrastructure to support these, which continued to be strengthened till the 1900s. %% “In the 1900s, Kanpur had excellent infrastructure,” says Shreyans Kapoor of Kashi Jewellers, one of the leading jewellery businesses in the city and indeed the state. “Connectivity is of great importance to any industry, and Kanpur had a very well developed rail network. So much so that the rail lines went right upto the godowns of the large factories, and they could take bogeys of goods trains right to the door-step so to speak. Later on, somewhere in the 1970s or so, the airport came up and there were daily flights to Delhi, Kolkata and Mumbai. However, today the situation is different. There are far fewer flights and we have to drive to Lucknow to connect to other cities within India; and to Delhi for international flights.”%% The Manchester of the East lost some of its glory since the late 1990s. Yet, Kanpur remains amongst the top ten industrialised cities of India. Though some of the earlier units have closed or fallen sick, there is yet a fairly thriving industries in operation. Leather and textiles continue to be important; there are, additionally, chemicals, fertilizers, and engineering industries amongst others; more recently, the city has become an important centre for the manufacture of soaps, masalas and paan masala. Added to this is the education sector which has developed since the mid 1900s, most notably the IIT Kanpur set up in 1959, as well as an agricultural university and several technical institutes. Kanpur has been attracting the BPO sector; it is also a large ordinance centre and manufactures arms, parachutes etc.%%

Though a number of industries set down roots and thrived, Kanpur was never considered an important jewellery manufacturing centre. Like in all other cities towns and villages of India, it had a retail presence – the fact that it was home to rich industrialists, virtually made this mandatory. It was an important wholesale centre catering to the nearby villages and towns, and continues to be one even today. %% “Birhana Road is the nerve centre of the retail jewellery trade, and has the largest concentration of jewellers in the city,” explains Rakesh Goel of Kadambari Jewellers. “Chowk Sarafa is the oldest jewellery trading centre from where much of the wholesale trade took place. Jewellers from all over the area came here to purchase jewellery. Now of course the retail trade holds pre-dominance.”%% Concurring with him, Ruchir Rastogi of Lala Jugal Kishore & Sons says, “The jewellery industry has been developing very well since the last 20 years.” They themselves chose to shift from Lucknow to Kanpur in 1982 and set up shop there. Rastogi recalls that even as late as the 1980s, there were only a handful of jewellery retailers; today their numbers have swelled considerably.%% Goel estimates that there would be around 55-60 retailers on Birhana Road alone. Kapoor, who represents the third generation of his family in the jewellery business, estimates that there Kanpur has around 100 or so retailers, big and small, of which about 10 to 12 would count as really large ones, who also stock diamond jewellery. “There are not many new jewellers coming in,” adds Kapoor. “Tanishq came very late into this market. They started with a showroom in another area and have recently opened one on Birhana Road.”%% What jewellery manufacturing exists in Kanpur is mainly of traditional gold jewellery, catering mainly to the lower end of the market, and that too in fairly small units, in the unorganised sector. “The jewellery manufactured here is mainly of the lightweight variety – dye, openwork,” says Goel. “The work is clean and good.”%% While most retailers source their jewellery from the local manufacturers or from other cities like Mumbai, Delhi, Ahmedabad and so on, there are a few like Kashi Jewellers and Lala Jugal Kishore & Sons who have their own manufacturing units in Kanpur itself.%%

“Apart from our retail business, we also export jewellery and hence we have our own manufacturing units here,” says Kapoor. “We are also one of the few to manufacture our own diamond jewellery.” What is more, the factory is organised along modern lines, with the artisans and staff getting all benefits and facilities. %% Lala Jugal Kishore & Sons also manufactures its own gold and diamond jewellery. “We source our diamonds from Surat,” Rastogi informs us. “In the North, generally the trend is for SI quality and JKL colours to be used. That is the case with almost 95 per cent of jwellery. What differentiates us from most other jewellers is that we only keep GH colours and VVS diamonds.”%% However, gold jewellery still constitutes the bulk of the business in this city. “Earlier the ratio may have been around 90:10 between gold and diamond jewellery; today I would say it is about 70:30,” says Kapoor. “De Beers’ efforts have really boosted diamond jewellery sales and it is only going up.”%% “Diamond jewellery sales have been seeing 20 per cent growth,” adds Goel.%% From all accounts the demographic of consumers in Kanpur is slightly different from most other larger cities. %% “In Kanpur we have two types of consumers,” elaborates Goel. “Either there are the rich industrialists, or the labour class.”%% Concurring with the view, Rastogi bemoans, “Either we have the high class or the lower middle class; Kanpur lacks a strong upper middle class population.” Needless to say, the spending by the two groups of consumers varies vastly. For upper classes, jewellery purchases are anywhere upwards of Rs. 2 lakh. %% Though the traditional consumers at the lower end are not fussy, everyone is agreed that tastes of the high end consumers in Kanpur have developed considerably. “The consumers of Kanpur are, nowadays, very concerned about design,” says Rastogi. “They are aware of trends all over the world and are also getting increasingly quality conscious. We welcome that as it makes it easier for us to sell the product.”%% “Design is very important , you cannot do without good design,” exclaims Kapoor. “At Kashi, we have been emphasising that element a lot – the number of awards we win for our jewellery is testimony to that.”%% Goel adds, “For about 60 per cent of our consumers, it is a matter of routine sales; but 40 per cent of our consumers are always wanting variety, they always want to know what is new in Mumbai, in Delhi. They surf the internet and search for designs. There is a lot of awareness amongst our consumers today.” %%

Summing up the current trends in the Kanpur market Kapoor says: “The type of jewellery bought depends on the season and the consumer – for example, during the winter wedding season obviously it is mainly heavy sets and jewellery; Holi time is generally lean and only very light jewellery is generally bought; the summer weddings are generally more in the villages, and then too the jewellery sold is on the lighter side; Kundan is doing well; polki was much in demand but the rise in prices has pushed down sales somewhat. Colouredstones are generally popular and they tend to give a spread for the budget. Pearls are also doing very well – again as there is a larger look for a smaller budget. Diamonds rings and earrings are generally in demand too, while diamond necklaces or sets are purchased for special occasions.” %% While all are gung-ho about the retail market currently, there is concern at the macro level too.%% “Jewellery retail is doing well presently,” explains Kapoor. “But for an industry to keep thriving there is a need for adequate infrastructure and the growth of the city’s economy so that newer sections of consumers are added. What we have is the old businesses and old time industrial families. And the infrastructural growth has been neglected over the years by both state and centre.”%% The fact that Kanpur has been named as a Counter Magnet city of the National Capital Region, in a plan that hopes to develop other centres to which migration can flow rather than be concentrated in the NCR, should hopefully give the necessary boost to development of both the economy and infrastructure of Kanpur. A move which will perhaps restore it to its former glory and create the basis for the jewellery industry to do even better and grow by leaps and bounds.%%

The people of Kanpur may have divergent views on many things, but the one fact they will all uniformly proclaim, and proudly, is: “You know, Kanpur was known as the Manchester of the East”. This is the identity that has shaped the city and which looms over the city even today. After the British quelled the First War of Independence in 1857, for which Kanpur was an important centre, they set about making it the hub of their industrial and business activities. Textiles and leather factories sprung up and it was the headquarters of the British India Corporation which spearheaded the development of several other industries as well. Indian industrialists were quick to take up the opportunity and began to set up factories for various manufacturing processes from 1857 onwards too. %% Along with the setting up of industries came the development of infrastructure to support these, which continued to be strengthened till the 1900s. %% “In the 1900s, Kanpur had excellent infrastructure,” says Shreyans Kapoor of Kashi Jewellers, one of the leading jewellery businesses in the city and indeed the state. “Connectivity is of great importance to any industry, and Kanpur had a very well developed rail network. So much so that the rail lines went right upto the godowns of the large factories, and they could take bogeys of goods trains right to the door-step so to speak. Later on, somewhere in the 1970s or so, the airport came up and there were daily flights to Delhi, Kolkata and Mumbai. However, today the situation is different. There are far fewer flights and we have to drive to Lucknow to connect to other cities within India; and to Delhi for international flights.”%% The Manchester of the East lost some of its glory since the late 1990s. Yet, Kanpur remains amongst the top ten industrialised cities of India. Though some of the earlier units have closed or fallen sick, there is yet a fairly thriving industries in operation. Leather and textiles continue to be important; there are, additionally, chemicals, fertilizers, and engineering industries amongst others; more recently, the city has become an important centre for the manufacture of soaps, masalas and paan masala. Added to this is the education sector which has developed since the mid 1900s, most notably the IIT Kanpur set up in 1959, as well as an agricultural university and several technical institutes. Kanpur has been attracting the BPO sector; it is also a large ordinance centre and manufactures arms, parachutes etc.%%

Though a number of industries set down roots and thrived, Kanpur was never considered an important jewellery manufacturing centre. Like in all other cities towns and villages of India, it had a retail presence – the fact that it was home to rich industrialists, virtually made this mandatory. It was an important wholesale centre catering to the nearby villages and towns, and continues to be one even today. %% “Birhana Road is the nerve centre of the retail jewellery trade, and has the largest concentration of jewellers in the city,” explains Rakesh Goel of Kadambari Jewellers. “Chowk Sarafa is the oldest jewellery trading centre from where much of the wholesale trade took place. Jewellers from all over the area came here to purchase jewellery. Now of course the retail trade holds pre-dominance.”%% Concurring with him, Ruchir Rastogi of Lala Jugal Kishore & Sons says, “The jewellery industry has been developing very well since the last 20 years.” They themselves chose to shift from Lucknow to Kanpur in 1982 and set up shop there. Rastogi recalls that even as late as the 1980s, there were only a handful of jewellery retailers; today their numbers have swelled considerably.%% Goel estimates that there would be around 55-60 retailers on Birhana Road alone. Kapoor, who represents the third generation of his family in the jewellery business, estimates that there Kanpur has around 100 or so retailers, big and small, of which about 10 to 12 would count as really large ones, who also stock diamond jewellery. “There are not many new jewellers coming in,” adds Kapoor. “Tanishq came very late into this market. They started with a showroom in another area and have recently opened one on Birhana Road.”%% What jewellery manufacturing exists in Kanpur is mainly of traditional gold jewellery, catering mainly to the lower end of the market, and that too in fairly small units, in the unorganised sector. “The jewellery manufactured here is mainly of the lightweight variety – dye, openwork,” says Goel. “The work is clean and good.”%% While most retailers source their jewellery from the local manufacturers or from other cities like Mumbai, Delhi, Ahmedabad and so on, there are a few like Kashi Jewellers and Lala Jugal Kishore & Sons who have their own manufacturing units in Kanpur itself.%%

“Apart from our retail business, we also export jewellery and hence we have our own manufacturing units here,” says Kapoor. “We are also one of the few to manufacture our own diamond jewellery.” What is more, the factory is organised along modern lines, with the artisans and staff getting all benefits and facilities. %% Lala Jugal Kishore & Sons also manufactures its own gold and diamond jewellery. “We source our diamonds from Surat,” Rastogi informs us. “In the North, generally the trend is for SI quality and JKL colours to be used. That is the case with almost 95 per cent of jwellery. What differentiates us from most other jewellers is that we only keep GH colours and VVS diamonds.”%% However, gold jewellery still constitutes the bulk of the business in this city. “Earlier the ratio may have been around 90:10 between gold and diamond jewellery; today I would say it is about 70:30,” says Kapoor. “De Beers’ efforts have really boosted diamond jewellery sales and it is only going up.”%% “Diamond jewellery sales have been seeing 20 per cent growth,” adds Goel.%% From all accounts the demographic of consumers in Kanpur is slightly different from most other larger cities. %% “In Kanpur we have two types of consumers,” elaborates Goel. “Either there are the rich industrialists, or the labour class.”%% Concurring with the view, Rastogi bemoans, “Either we have the high class or the lower middle class; Kanpur lacks a strong upper middle class population.” Needless to say, the spending by the two groups of consumers varies vastly. For upper classes, jewellery purchases are anywhere upwards of Rs. 2 lakh. %% Though the traditional consumers at the lower end are not fussy, everyone is agreed that tastes of the high end consumers in Kanpur have developed considerably. “The consumers of Kanpur are, nowadays, very concerned about design,” says Rastogi. “They are aware of trends all over the world and are also getting increasingly quality conscious. We welcome that as it makes it easier for us to sell the product.”%% “Design is very important , you cannot do without good design,” exclaims Kapoor. “At Kashi, we have been emphasising that element a lot – the number of awards we win for our jewellery is testimony to that.”%% Goel adds, “For about 60 per cent of our consumers, it is a matter of routine sales; but 40 per cent of our consumers are always wanting variety, they always want to know what is new in Mumbai, in Delhi. They surf the internet and search for designs. There is a lot of awareness amongst our consumers today.” %%

Summing up the current trends in the Kanpur market Kapoor says: “The type of jewellery bought depends on the season and the consumer – for example, during the winter wedding season obviously it is mainly heavy sets and jewellery; Holi time is generally lean and only very light jewellery is generally bought; the summer weddings are generally more in the villages, and then too the jewellery sold is on the lighter side; Kundan is doing well; polki was much in demand but the rise in prices has pushed down sales somewhat. Colouredstones are generally popular and they tend to give a spread for the budget. Pearls are also doing very well – again as there is a larger look for a smaller budget. Diamonds rings and earrings are generally in demand too, while diamond necklaces or sets are purchased for special occasions.” %% While all are gung-ho about the retail market currently, there is concern at the macro level too.%% “Jewellery retail is doing well presently,” explains Kapoor. “But for an industry to keep thriving there is a need for adequate infrastructure and the growth of the city’s economy so that newer sections of consumers are added. What we have is the old businesses and old time industrial families. And the infrastructural growth has been neglected over the years by both state and centre.”%% The fact that Kanpur has been named as a Counter Magnet city of the National Capital Region, in a plan that hopes to develop other centres to which migration can flow rather than be concentrated in the NCR, should hopefully give the necessary boost to development of both the economy and infrastructure of Kanpur. A move which will perhaps restore it to its former glory and create the basis for the jewellery industry to do even better and grow by leaps and bounds.%%