Diamond studded or platinum jewellery is leading the trend this Diwali on the back of growing change in the mind set of women, particularly those working, away from their important role of homemakers, who take jewellery more as a daily wearable than buying gold as investment avenue, an ASSOCHAM survey based on jewellers' and consumer feedback has noted.

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High gold prices and innovations on the part of jewellery firms, especially the large houses, is driving the change in the fashion trend.

Even within gold jewellery, the trend is seen on lower cost wearables, though more needs to be done to tempt consumers. Small items like earring, rings and light bangles see heavy demand.

The survey, which comes on the eve of Dhanteras, found that 79 per cent jewellers are focusing on platinum-based diamond jewellery over traditional pure play gold and silver ornaments to tap the changing preferences of consumers.

The demand for diamond jewellery is estimated to have grown by 30-35 per cent this season year on year Platinum too has seen an excellent growth of 25% this year, the survey said.

The survey covered 350 jewellery-makers based in Delhi-NCR, Mumbai, Ahemdabad, Chennai, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Chennai, Bangalore, Chandigarh and Dehradun.

ASSOCHAM also interacted with about 500 working and non-working women in Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi-NCR and Mumbai to gauge their shopping habits during Dhanteras.

"That is the real challenge.....Can they (jewellers) sell some decent jewellery for say, Rs 5,000-10,000 or between Rs 15,000-20,000. That is where the demand lies," ASSOCHAM Chairman of Gold Council said today.

One of the reasons jewellers losing interest in gold is a high level of policy regulation and tax issues like mandatory quoting of the Permanent Account Number of Income Tax, the traders in the precious metals said.

During Dhanteras the sales of gold and silver along with other metals is expected to pick up, though the mix and ratio among different precious metals may change. The share of platinum and diamond jewellery in the overall gold jewellery has increased significantly over the past one year.

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