Beyond gold: Who rules India’s $85 billion jewellery market?

India is the world’s biggest consumer of gold jewellery. Bigger than China. For natural diamond jewellery, India ranks second only to the United States. In 2026, India’s gems and jewellery market is valued at about $85 billion (₹7.31 lakh crore).

Luxury Volt explainer: The evolution of India’s precious jewellery market

Although India’s jewellery trade dates back centuries, its corporatisation started only in the late 1990s. Before that Indians shopped for gold at mom-and-pop local stores. Titan was the first to disrupt India’s hyper-local consumption habits, and introduce organised retail in the jewellery sector with the launch of its maiden jewellery retail brand – Tanishq. Titan championed transparent pricing and a nationwide retail network which was an overdue and an evolutionary shift for the Indian market.

Tanishq’s rapid popularity shifted consumer loyalty to branded retail and forced regional players to adopt corporate structures, forever changing how India buys jewellery.

Emboldened by Tanishq’s success, regional players also began transforming their small operations into nationwide retail chains. The majority of these brands emerged from South India, particularly Kerala state, a historically significant hub for gold consumption. Today, Kerala is the base of most of India’s biggest jewellery retailers. Moreover, they are expanding their reach far beyond the country’s borders.

While India’s precious jewellery market is big enough to benefit both domestic and global brands, domestic brands continue to dominate the market across price points and prestige tiers. From mass-market retailers to high-jewellery labels, India’s jewellery ecosystem remains predominantly local, making it difficult for international marquee brands to gain meaningful traction despite their global appeal.

Here are India’s top 5 jewellers that dominate the jewellery market. Most of them started in the late 1990s and have expanded to hundreds of stores across India and beyond. All of these brands cater to various price and prestige segments.

India’s top jewellers

1) Malabar Gold and Diamonds is India’s largest, independently owned jewellery group. With a turnover of $7.36 billion, Malabar Gold and Diamonds is the world’s 5th-largest jewellery retailer. While domestic sales generate 68% of its revenue, global sales account for about 32%. Malabar Gold and Diamonds has over 420 showrooms across 14 countries including Middle east, North America and Australia.

M.P. Ahammed founded Malabar Gold & Diamonds in 1993 in India’s southern state – Kerala. It offers a wide variety of jewellery – from traditional designs to diamond jewellery, high-jewellery and light weight pieces. Alia Bhatt, Gucci’s global Indian brand ambassador is also a global ambassador for Malabar Gold and Diamonds.

Beyond its jewellery business, the Malabar Group operates in 14 other sectors, including real estate, electronics. More than 4,000 shareholders, including founders, investors, and management jointly own the group.

2) Titan is the watch and jewellery division of the Tata group. It includes four jewellery brands – Tanishq, CaratLane, Zoya and beYon. In FY 2025, Titan’s jewellery revenue reached ₹46,571 crore ($5.45 billion), fuelled mostly by the domestic market. Tanishq was launched by Titan in 1994–95. It was initially established to export made-in-India jewellery. In 1995, it pivoted to the domestic market, introducing an organised retail experience.

• Tanishq- Tata’s flagship brand is known for traditional and contemporary gold and diamond jewellery.
• CaratLane focuses on modern, affordable, and lightweight jewellery for everyday use. It has an omni-channel presence. Titan acquired a 100% stake in CaratLane in 2024.
• Zoya is positioned as a luxury boutique brand that offers high-end, artistic designs.
• Mia by Tanishq is an entry level jewellery brand where jewellery starts at about 1300 INR ($14) for silver jewellery. The brand offers low gold karate jewellery as well. Titan prices Mia by Tanishq jewellery between $14 and $4000..
• beYon: A lab-grown diamond brand launched in 2025.

3) Kalyan Jewellers was also founded in the gold dominant market of Kerala. It was established in 1993 by T.S. Kalyanaraman in Thrissur city. He transitioned from a family business of textiles to jewellery retail, growing it into a multibillion-dollar empire. Kalyan now has over 250 showrooms across India and the Middle East with a strong focus on the wedding and festival jewellery segments. In 2017, Kalyan jewellers added a entry-level jewellery brand – Candere. to its portfolio.

Kalyan jewellers FY 2025 revenue was ₹25,045 crore (roughly $2.93 billion). 85% of its sales were generated in India.

4) Joyalukkas: Alukka Joseph Varghese originally founded the Alukkas jewellery brand in Thrissur city, in the southern Indian state of Kerala, in 1956. In 1987, his son, Joy Alukkas expanded the business internationally starting with Abu Dhabi in the UAE. The brand currently has 190+ showrooms in 12 countries. In the financial year ending March 2025, Joyalukkas recorded a revenue of $3.5 billion (₹30,018 crore) of which 67% was from the India market.

5) Senco Gold and Diamonds: Shankar Sen founded Senco Gold and Diamonds in 1994 in Kolkata, West Bengal in western India. Since then, the brand’s domestic network has grown to about 200 showrooms and 100 shop-in-shops. In FY 2025, its consolidated revenue was $740.68 million (₹6,328.07 crore) through sales in India.