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Summer of 2004

Return of the Hall of Universe
Every spring, thousands of jewellery and watch lovers from all over the world descend upon the city of Basel for the annual World Watch and Jewellery Show, turning it into an international metropolis. This year from the 15-22 April, the attention of countless people from retail and wholesale sectors as well as from department stores from every continent was focused on entire collections of the world’s most famous jewellery and watch manufacturers. Many manufacturers use Baselworld as their exclusive exhibition venue. Up to 2,200 exhibitors from 40 countries dealing with watches, jewellery, precious stones and allied sectors travel to Baselworld to present their latest creations to an exclusive trade audience.

This year marked the return of the national pavilions to Baselworld. The Hall of Universe, which was held at Zurich in 2003, housed national pavilions from 25 countries, with about 800 exhibiting companies. In July, the board of directors of Swiss Exhibition approved the plan to develop the new hall on an existing warehouse complex that lies within walking distance from the main venue. This would provide an additional exhibition space for the Hall of Universe as a separate dedicated sector.

We spoke to Mr Sanjay Kothari, trade analyst in the jewellery industry to see what the new Hall of Universe meant for the India pavilion. According to him, “It was better than Zurich, but if it were closer to the main venue it would be better. ”On being asked whether there were more exhibitors in the India pavilion this year and what special effort was made by the India pavilion to ensure that enough people visited their stalls, Mr Kothari replied, “There were hardly one or two more exhibitors, and we gave the usual publicity in trade magazines. ”In reply to our question as to how business was this year for the Indian jewellery abroad, he simply claimed, “No one reveals the figures. Besides, the exhibition is not the place for millions of dollars of business. Its only a platform for sampling.”

-Smita De Souza