TS Kalyanaraman | Secret behind the success of Kalyan Group

T. S. Kalyanaraman Iyer
Born	1951 (age 66–67) Thrissur city, Kerala, India
Residence	Thrissur city, India
Nationality	Indian
Alma mater	Sree Kerala Varma College
Occupation	Business
Years active	1993-present
Employer	Chairman and Managing Director of Kalyan Jewellers & Kalyan Developers
Net worth	US$1.2 billion (2017)
Spouse(s)	Ramadevi

Jewelry is amongst some of the things that are engraved in the Indian culture. Being so closely associated with people, it has a special place in their lifestyle. Owing to the importance, there are a few names in the jewelry market that have created a legacy with their presence and connection with the people. Kalyan Jewelers is one such name, which is founded on the legacy of the rich Indian culture.

All about Kalyan Jewellers Owner – T. S. Kalyanaraman

The famous jewelry chain was founded by T. S. Kalyanaraman.

Presently, he serves as the Founder Chairman and Managing Director of Kalyan Jewelers. As of 2017, the estimated net worth of TS Kalyanaraman was $1.2 billion.

Kalyanaraman started the first Kalyan Jewelers store in Thrissur City, Kerela in 1993. He began the first store with an initial investment of Rs 75,00,000 and later expanded to 32 showrooms all across South India.

The Kalyan Jewelers owner is also the Chairman of Kalyan Group, the holding company of Kalyan Jewelers.

Early Life of TS Kalyanaraman

T.S. Kalyanaraman Iyer is the son of T.R. Seetharama Iyer. He was born in the year 1951 in Thrissur City, Kerela. He graduated in the field of commerce from Sree Kerala Varma College.

A humble and down to earth man, he is married to Ramadevi Kalyanaraman and has two sons and one daughter. Rajesh Kalyanaraman, his eldest son is married to Maya Rajesh. He takes care of the inventory and finance departments. His second son, Ramesh Kalyanaraman leads marketing and operations and is married to Deepa Ramesh. His daughter, Radhika, a housewife, is married to Karthik R. He serves as the MD of ‘Kalyan Developers’.

The Kalyan Jewelers owner family is incomplete without the five grandchildren he has from his three children. He is a grandfather to three granddaughters and two grandsons.

Hailing from a family of priests, Kalyanaraman’s grandfather took the first step and moved out of the priesthood and started a textile business. It was this 110-year-old legacy that gave T. S. Kalyanaraman the much needed exposure to the market.

At an early age of 12, he began his entrepreneurial odyssey. He used to accompany his father to their textile shop in order to understand the business rules. Watching and understanding the work, he developed a knack for making it big very early in his life. He was assigned small tasks at the shop which he loved doing. He began with counting cash, receiving stock, etc., and slowly got accustomed to the environment.

From the very first day, he was taught to be humble and treat customers well. He understood that the customer is king and without them, a business cannot flourish.

The present day owner of Kalyan Jewelers paid close attention to whatever was taught to him.

Seetharama Iyer explained him the Golden business rule, “Lesser margin and more turnovers would give more profit.”

Iyer’s vision explained him what entrepreneurs now preach to their employees. Being instilled with values and business acumen at a young age gave him a head start and he could understand the business tactics easily. This helped him make it big with Kalyan Jewelers.

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Kalyan Group’s diversified business

A business venture, Kalyan Group has three companies under its aegis. Kalyan Jewelers, Kalyan Silks (Kalyan Silks, Kalyan Jewelers and Kalyan Collections), along with Kalyan Developers, which is the most recent venture.

The foundation stone of the group was laid by T. S. Kalyanarama Iyer in 1909. With their headquarters in Thrissur, Kerala, he began his journey with a textile mill. Later, when the mill was taken over by the government, Iyer moved to Kumbakonam, Tamil Nadu and started his textile shop in Thrissur.

The business was then joined by Seetharama Iyer who divided it further to both his sons in 1991. T. S. Kalyanaraman chairs and manages Kalyan Jewelers, while T. S. Pattabhiraman is responsible for Kalyan Silks.

Another major step by the group in terms of business is the diversification into real estate. Kalyan Developers is the latest venture by the group. Apart from this, the group also plans to enter

How Kalyan Jewellers captured Gold Market in India?

Retailing gold is one thing, but making sure the advertisements and marketing are done correctly, takes the brand to another level. With some of the most reputed names in the film industry including Amitabh Bachchan, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Nagarjuna Akkineni, Manju Warrier, and others associated with Kalyan as brand ambassadors, it is one of the very few reputed jewelry brands in India.

The owner of Kalyan Jewelers is amongst the very few who have changed the entire gold retail market. The first brand to sell BIS (Bureau of Indian Standards) hallmarked jewelry, it assures people of fair price and quality. The retailer also has carat meters, to check the purity of jewelry.

What highlights the business acumen of T. S. Kalyanaraman, Kalyan Jewellers owner is his ability to think out of the box and come up with unique marketing ideas. The Kalyan Jewellers gold scheme, Kalyan Golden Card and many other such initiatives have been the core policies of the company. This has drawn multiple customers towards the group, thereby increasing their sales.

Making a statement, the retail store also was the first to incorporate the rate tag culture and go fixed price for their jewelry. Focusing only on the middle-class buyer, Kalyan has always played on expanding sales with minimum margin. Aiding the buyers, they opened 101 My Kalyan stores in Kerala in order to help the customers with purchase schemes, gold insurance, gold buying tips, wedding purchase planning, advance gold booking and more.

Kalyan Jewellers in the diamond sector

Taking their business to a new pedestal, Kalyan jewelers expanded into the diamond sector. With an aim to make diamond available to the masses, the ace businessman T. S. Kalyanaraman launched diamond jewelry starting at Rs 8,000. An Advertisement campaign with the Shahenshah of Bollywood, Amitabh Bachchan with a tagline ‘Heera hai sab ke liye, which translates to, ‘a diamond is for everyone’ was run to promote the new jewelry branch.

Advertisement Campaign by Kalyan Jewellers – “Heera hai sab ke liye”

With T. S. Kalyanaraman’s vision, Kalyan Jewelers is one of the few family businesses which have become corporate companies, and have established themselves as huge brands in the market. Along with his knowledge of running a business, he makes sure that all his employees are treated well and receive wages above than the market. Also, engraved in his habits is treating his customers well, which he believes in key to handling and promoting a business.