romising the same experience as shopping in Dubai, India's first gold souk is set to open Friday in Gurgaon, on the outskirts of the capital, offering lifestyle accessories.

"So far around 65 percent of the souk's

"Alongside branded jewellery we have some of the established names in the business from Kolkata, Mumbai, Jaipur and the capital setting up shop in the souk," said Gupta at a press conference.

Designed by Oliver Vidal of US-based Swanke Hayden and Associate and built at a cost of around Rs.400 million, the souk in Gurgaon is to be followed up with nine more in the country over the next three years with an estimated Rs.1 billion investment in each of the other souks.

"We are in the process of finalising land in Ludhiana, Kochi, Chennai and Jaipur to start construction of souks by next year. The next project in Ludhiana will be launched by mid-December followed by one in Kochi early next year," Gupta said.

In the next phase, Aeren Group, which has been pioneering several speciality malls, is planning gold souks in Bangalore, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad and Kolkata.

"We are also in the process of doing viability study for setting up a gold souk in Chicago in the US and also in Britain, Bangladesh and Nepal among other nearby countries," Gupta told IANS.

The multiple location gold souks "will provide jewellers opportunity to expand without investing too much into real estate development. Many of the big jewellers planning expansion have already committed to take space in our next ventures," said G. S. Pillai, president of Aerens Gold Souk.

Leading brand names set to occupy space in the gold souk include Hammer Plus, Espirit, Hugo Boss, Citizen, Celeste, Asmi, Sangini and Nakshtra.

Promising a full shopping experience, the gold souk is aiming to score with comfort levels for all members of a family be it adults or children with a play area, beauty salon and food court.

Two major names in the Middle East, Alukkas and D'Damas from Dubai are also opening outlets at the souk. 

"In addition to jewellery and branded products including watches and lifestyle accessories, we will be providing a platform for young budding graduates of the jewellery designing institutes," said Pillai.

The opening of the souk has been timed to coincide with the peak gold and silver buying season in the country from September to January that sees a large number of festivals and weddings. There is expectation of more purchases in the rural areas soon after harvest.

With an annual consumption of some 800 tonnes of gold, India is the largest gold jewellery market in the world, valued at $14.5 billion.

"With people from nearby cities coming routinely to the capital to shop for gold, we are targeting customers within 300-400 km of Delhi for an enjoyable shopping experience without car parking hassles," said Gupta.

Designed to look like a "pearl emerging from a oyster, the souk will have all facilities to make shopping for gold a pleasure. Our main selling point will be ambience, quality and variety with one or two special events being organised every month," said Gupta.

--Indo-Asian News Service