Bluestone Jewellery and Lifestyle, which is backed by Accel India and Kalaari Capital, is looking to raise around 120 billion rupees ($1.41 billion) in its initial public offering (IPO), sources familiar with the matter said. The company will raise 10 billion rupees through the issue of fresh shares, while existing shareholders, including Accel and Kalaari Capital, will sell 24 million shares, draft IPO papers showed. The total value of the IPO is going to reach close to 30 billion rupees.
With specific focus on diamond, gold, platinum, and studded jewellery, Bluestone faces majorly established players such as Titan, Kalyan Jewellers, and Tribhovandas Bhimji Zaveri in the fiercely competitive Indian jewelry market, that accounts to $85.52 billion market value in 2023 with an annual growth of 5.7% to 2030 by Grand View Research. This puts Bluestone in a promising market, but the company has to navigate several challenges as it seeks to establish a foothold in the public market.
The timing of the IPO itself is noteworthy, given that it falls during a period of slowed urban consumption in India, battered by continued inflation. Discretionary consumer spending on such luxury goods remains the primary stay of business for companies like Bluestone. Mahesh Ojha, Assistant Vice President of Research and Business Development at Hensex Securities warned that the present economic conditions shall cast a cloud over the expansion prospects of Bluestone.
Despite these issues, Bluestone has succeeded in showing improvement in its performance financially. The company recently ended its fiscal year on March 2024 with an annual loss of 1.42 billion rupees. Comparatively, the company had ended its previous fiscal year with an annual loss of 1.67 billion rupees. On the other hand, its revenue from operations increased by over 64% to reach 12.66 billion rupees from the previous fiscal year.
Proceeds from the IPO would go mostly into working capital, mainly funding the requirements of the Bluestone’s operations, which is continuously growing in this business. With the expansion and solid backing of the big investor, Bluestone expects to be well placed to take advantage of growth long-term, even when facing macroeconomic headwinds. The IPO comes as India’s capital markets is booming, with more than 300 companies having raised $17.5 billion as of 2024 itself, a number that is more than the previous year.
