Where the Money Goes

New jewellers usually underestimate one line and overestimate another. The shop fit out, the safe, the counters and the lighting feel like the big spend, but they are a fraction of the total. The gold on the counters is the business. A customer walking in for a wedding set expects to see a real choice of necklaces, bangles, mangalsutras and rings in several weights, and a showroom with thin trays loses that sale to the town that has more.

That stock also moves with the gold rate every day. When the rate rises your inventory is worth more; when it falls, it is worth less, and you still owe whatever you borrowed to buy it. Any plan that does not say how the stock is funded and how rate movement is handled is not a plan yet.

The Compliance You Cannot Skip

• BIS registration and hallmarking. Gold jewellery sold in India must be hallmarked by BIS in the districts where hallmarking is mandatory, and each piece carries a six character HUID. The jeweller needs BIS registration to sell it.
• GST registration, with gold billed at the applicable rate and making charges shown separately on the bill.
• Shop and establishment registration under state rules, plus local trade licences.
• Cash and KYC rules. High value purchases carry PAN and cash limits, and jewellers are covered by anti money laundering reporting. Your billing system has to handle this from day one.
• Savings schemes. If you run a monthly gold savings plan, its structure has to stay within the law on deposits. Take advice before launching one.

This is general guidance, not legal advice. Confirm the current rules with your chartered accountant before you commit money.

Choosing the Town

In Vidarbha the right question is not how big a town is, but where its families spend their wedding and festival gold today. In many district towns a large share of that spend still travels to a bigger city because there is no branded showroom of real scale locally. A good location keeps that spend at home.

Look at how money arrives. Cotton and soybean belts buy after the harvest. Coalfield and power plant towns carry salaried income and buy steadily through the year, which also suits a monthly savings plan. Border towns draw buyers from more than one state. Then look at the wider catchment: the talukas whose families already shop in your town decide how big the showroom can be.

Londe Jewellers Gold & Diamonds is currently looking for franchise partners first in these towns:

Wardha Yavatmal Gondia Chandrapur Chhindwara Akola Amravati Rajnandgaon Katol Saoner

Going Alone or Taking a Franchise

Going alone means your own name on the board. You keep every rupee of margin and every decision, but you build trust from zero in a category where trust is the whole sale. You also arrange sourcing, hallmarking, design range, staff training and marketing yourself.

A franchise means opening under a name buyers already know. You get the sourcing, the product range, the systems and the marketing, and you share the margin and follow the brand's standards in return. For a first time jeweller, the brand name usually matters most in the first two or three wedding seasons, when a new unknown counter struggles to win a bride's family.

FOCO and FOFO, Explained

• FOCO, Franchise Owned Company Operated. You invest in the showroom and its stock, and Londe runs the showroom day to day. Suits an investor who wants the business without running a jewellery counter.
• FOFO, Franchise Owned Franchise Operated. You invest in and run the showroom yourself, with Londe supplying stock, systems, training and marketing. Suits someone who wants to be on the floor and build the business personally.

Which model fits is agreed on the introductory call, after we understand your plan and the town.

Questions to Ask Any Jewellery Franchisor

Whoever you talk to, including us, get clear answers to these before you sign anything:

• Who owns the stock, and who carries the risk when the gold rate falls?
• Is the territory exclusive, and where exactly are its boundaries?
• What are the fees and the margin share, in writing?
• How are hallmarking, HUID and billing compliance handled?
• Who runs savings schemes, and who carries that liability?
• What happens to unsold or old design stock?
• What marketing does the brand actually run in your town, not only at its home base?

What Londe Jewellers Brings

Londe Jewellers Gold & Diamonds has traded in Nagpur since 1989, runs four showrooms there and has served more than five lakh families. A franchise partner gets brand licensing, store design, BIS hallmarked gold and natural IGI and GIA certified diamond supply, silver jewellery, staff hiring and training, billing and CRM systems, the Golden Tree and Golden Locker savings plans, and festive and celebrity marketing. We do not deal in lab grown diamonds. Prior jewellery experience is not required.

The gold stock for a Londe franchise showroom needs 15 to 20 crore. Premises and fit out depend on size and town and are worked out with you. See the franchise programme and enquire here, or browse all open territories.

Common Questions