Gold in Our Veins

Time of India

28-05-2025

New Delhi:
In Thrissur, Kerala, the Kalyanaraman family has built a jewellery brand that goes beyond gold - it's about trust, family, and a strong connection with their community. Sitting down with Pallavi Goel of ETRetail for the latest edition of
Digital Cover - Top Shelf,
the family -
T.S. Kalyanaraman, Managing Director; Rajesh and Ramesh Kalyanaraman, Executive Directors at Kalyan Jewellers
, shared their journey from textiles to becoming one of India's most respected jewellery names.
T.S. Kalyanaraman, the founder, spoke warmly about their roots.
He smiled gently as he said: We are a four-generation business family. My father - T.K. Seetharama Iyer and my grandfather - T.S. Kalyanarama Iyer, were in textile retailing and manufacturing. I started Kalyan Jewellers in 1993, as jewellery came as a natural progression, especially because customers themselves encouraged it. They would say, 'Why not jewellery? We already trust you with textiles.'
Our family has been based in Thrissur for over a century, and that longstanding relationship with the community gave me the confidence to make the leap into jewellery retail.T.S. Kalyanaraman
At the time, jewellery shopping was quite different - small shops, waiting weeks for orders. The family wanted to change that.
T.S. Kalyanaraman
explained: The difference was our background in textiles. In that business, customers shop from a ready inventory. Jewellery retail at the time was very different. Small stores, 200–300 square feet, mostly made-to-order. Customers would browse catalogues and then wait 10 to 15 days to receive their jewellery. We flipped that model. We opened a 4,000 square foot showroom with ready-to-buy inventory, like in textiles. And because the Kalyan brand was already well-trusted from our textile days, the response was overwhelming from day one.
The growth that followed was steady and strategic.
By 2010, Kalyan Jewellers had 35 showrooms
across Kerala, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, and Andhra Pradesh, and with a growing reputation for quality and transparency.
But things weren't always easy.
When they opened their second store in Palakkad, 70 km from Thrissur, they soon realised that each market is unique.
Rajesh Kalyanaraman
laughed softly as he shared: In the year 2000, we opened our second showroom in Palakkad a town close to Tamil Nadu border, 70 km away from Thrissur. We simply replicated the Thrissur format - same store size, inventory, pricing, and campaigns. But the results weren't as expected. We realised that Palakkad customers had very different preferences. Many were used to shopping in nearby Coimbatore and preferred designs that were more aligned with Tamil taste. They sought greater flexibility in pricing and had a different service expectation from that of the Thrissur customer. Even our advertising had to be tweaked—it needed to be more vibrant and dramatic to appeal to the local mindset.
We learnt a critical lesson: to succeed and gain market share, we have to become a hyperlocal brand, instead of being a homogeneous entity.Rajesh Kalyanaraman
This lesson helped as they expanded across India.
Ramesh Kalyanaraman, the younger son of the family, said thoughtfully: We took the long view.
Our P&L was always in the black, but we hadn't fully realised operating leverage in each state, and we chose not to wait for it. Our ambition was to build a pan-India brand, and we understood that waiting for optimal efficiency in every State would slow us down. We expanded into two to three new states each year, and by 2019–20, we had established a strong national presence. At that point, operating leverage began to take effect across the network.
Between the first and second waves of COVID, we listed the company. Following the listing, we began partnering with franchisees, and since then, we've continued to grow our footprint in a strategic and focused manner. In 2015, to fuel their rapid pan-India growth, Kalyan Jewellers secured a significant investment from Warburg Pincus, a global private equity firm. As they grew, the family decided to bring in professional management.
Ramesh, who joined the business at 19, explained: This brand is at the heart of everything we do.
My father started it (Kalyan Jewellers), my elder brother joined for the second showroom, and I followed. But as we moved towards being a national brand, we realised that passion and commitment alone weren't enough to scale operations effectively. We strengthened our structure by building a strong mid-level management team of around 100 people. In 2012, we brought in a professional leadership team, including a COO and other key roles. Today, while we continue to provide strategic direction, the day-to-day operations are managed by this team.
Their journey also saw a significant milestone in 2021 when
Kalyan Jewellers went public, raising Rs 1,175 crore through its IPO.
It was a strong signal to the market about the brand's maturity and future-readiness.
The brand's visibility and connect were amplified when it brought on board
Bollywood icon Amitabh Bachchan in 2013.
Over the years, the brand's face evolved to include the Bachchan family and a host of other celebrities such as Katrina Kaif, Rashmika Mandanna, Janhvi Kapoor, Kriti Sanon, Kalyani Priyadarshan, Nagarjuna Akkineni, Prabhu Ganesan, and Shiva Rajkumar, helping Kalyan strike a cultural chord across regions and demographics.
The family also took a step into e-commerce with their acquisition of Candere.
Rajesh said simply:
We were strong in offline retail but didn't want to spread ourselves thin building e-commerce internally. So we first invested in Candere, which was run by another promoter, and eventually took full ownership. Over time, e-commerce has shifted to omnichannel, where our offline expertise matters.
As of March 31, 2025, Kalyan Jewellers boasts a workforce of 13,439 employees,
a presence that is 33 per cent rooted in South India and 67 per cent in non-South zones, and a 7 per cent share in the organised jewellery market.
The company's revenue stands at Rs 25,045 crore in FY25 with a profit of Rs 714 crore. It boasts a presence in six countries, with 388 showrooms, including 36 in the Middle East and new outposts in the USA. Looking ahead, Kalyan has its eyes set on further expansion, with 90 new showroom openings planned for FY26.
In the backdrop of a double-digit growth, when asked what they want the next generation to take from this legacy, T.S. Kalyanaraman's voice softened:
We want them to stay grounded in the values we've always upheld. Times have changed, and this generation's path will be different from mine, but they've seen firsthand the care and dedication we put into building this company, and I hope they embrace its spirit.
Remembering the early days of Kalyan Jewellers,
Rajesh said:
Our journey started from ground up - in our very first showroom, we were just a small team and everyone did everything. That hands-on approach was key to our growth. Back then, with only five employees in our first showroom, if a sixth customer walked in, we didn't wait - we'd step in. For the next generation, it's crucial to understand every part of the business. Even if they start at the top, they need to learn the ropes. Only then will they truly grasp the legacy they're inheriting.
Editor's Note:
There's something profoundly human in the way the Kalyanaraman family talks about the brand - with warmth, pride, and a kind of affection you don't often find in corporate narratives. When they say 'Kalyan is everything to us,' it's not just a line, but a truth that has shaped their lives and their legacy.
It's inspiring to see a brand that started in Kerala - a place with its own unique culture and tastes - grow into a truly pan-India name. The name 'Kalyan' itself carries different meanings across the country, but almost always reflects positivity and prosperity. This cultural resonance has helped them build a brand that feels like family to both the business and its patrons.