A ‘Treasure Trove’ from Goa

Vikram Verlekar: It's great to achieve this feat. Treasure Trove is the first of its kind coffee table book that holds the success stories of 100 leading jewellers of India and we, at Ulhas Jewellers Pvt Ltd, are proud to be a part of this. Interestingly, ours is the only jewellery brand from Goa to be selected among the 100 top in India. It's a sort of self-motivation, to strive harder, to do better and to aspire more through a disciplined, ethical mode of business.
TG: You are celebrating 90 years of your existence in the business - 1927-2017. What's your secret of success?
VV: Quality has always remained our top priority. It is through quality that we have earned today's status in the jewellery market in Goa and outside the State. The corporate status that Ulhas Jewellers Pvt Ltd achieved is through appropriate structuring of our business. We were the first in Goa to get the ISO 9001:2008 certified jewellery house and first in Goa to be Trustmark certified. As GenNext jewellers, we did not limit ourselves to the boundaries of our little State. Transcending them, we were the first to go out, to learn how corporate business houses work, and to bring back that culture to Goa. I worked in Mumbai with reputed jewellery houses and educated myself before shouldering and sharing the responsibility with my father, Ulhas Verlekar and elder brother Pritam.
TG: And your mantra of business?
VV: The ethics and trust goes a long way. For us, as a jewellery house, it was a long journey, a journey that began much before 1930s. From that time, we have always striven to win and maintain the trust of our customers intact. Sometimes, it meant that we had to walk an extra mile, but yes, we did it with a smile. It runs in our DNA. We have learnt it from our father, Ulhas Verlekar who believes that the service should go with a smile regardless of who the customer is and irrespective of his/her purchase, big or small. It doesn't matter if the customer buys or not, he should step out of Ulhas Jewellers with a smile, satisfaction and a will to return.
TG: Any future plans? Adding more showrooms?
VV: Yes, we do plan to diversify into other avenues of business. As of now, we deal with gold, diamonds, gems, platinum, pearls, precious stones and silver through our three showrooms in Margao. ‘Ulhas Jewellers' is dedicated to heavy, authentic Goan and traditional Indian jewellery, the second is an exclusive diamond jewellery store ‘Ulhas' while the third ‘Pridora' caters to the modern taste with its authentic, trendy, light wear and fashionable items in gold that meet all the stringent quality standards and criteria certified by the government's Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS), International Gemmological Institute (IGI) and Platinum Guild International (PGI). Our silver section, ‘Esper', deals with silver ornaments. We are looking beyond now. Let me add something interesting - we are working on a book on the history of gold in India and Wendell Rodricks has agreed to extend his help.
TG: History is fine, what about the future for gold?
VV: As diamonds are forever, gold is for eternity. Come what may, gold will not lose its value due to the emotional attachment of Indians to it. This yellow metal has been the centre of all business transactions since ancient times. Possessing gold gives one a sense of value, safety, security, pride and stability. And, one can liquidate it in times of crises as gold has ready buyers. It's a known fact that since ancient times, India is known to be a land of jewellers. The scene has not changed much. There are four hundred thousand jewellers in India as of now.