If he is not making Priyanka Chopra feel daddy’s pampered little girl, he is probably co-hosting a Michelin chef’s table for Bollywood and business A listers Vikas and Gayatri Oberoi, Aryama Sundaram, Pirojsha Godrej, VryaSwati Piramal and Sonam Kapoor with Massimo Bottura.
But for a man always at the centre of a glittering and effervescent universe, Nirav Modi is enviably taciturn. Even when he speaks, the Wharton school dropout turned hautest diamantiere with a weakness for Canali suits, Bentley cars, Francis Newton Souza canvases, is almost inaudible.
Not his eponymous jewellery label though.
Within a span of a decade, and emerging out of nowhere, it has blazed its trail across high streets of Madison Avenue or MGM Macau and Marina Bay Sands to emerge as the biggest luxury label to have ever come out of Asia. Till the law caught up with him.
Meanwhile, his pieces ranging from Rs 5 lakh to Rs 50 crore have found a permanent perch across celebrity collarbones causing both awe and admiration among his peers and a jet setting clientele who swear by their fluidic yet functional designs.
More importantly his is a global brand with quintessentially Indian sensibilities. The faces that sell his dreams – Andreea Diaconu, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley or even PeeCee -- are global icons who have been ambassadors of marque labels like Gucci, Dolce & Gabbana or Belstaff in the past. Its Made in India but for a global audience.
So when he celebrated the 5th anniversary of his brand, he hosted a glittering event for his global uber lux clients who had flown in at Jodhpur’s Umaid Bhavan for a show that would have dazzled any normal soul.
Models sashayed in clothes made of fresh flower petals – handmade the night before the show – in a blinding display of opulence and grandeur. The glistening rocks were the showstoppers, as were the bracelets and earrings.
“There has always been whispers but he lived a life of glamour and mixed in the right circles. After a point nobody cared,” quipped an old acquaintance who did not wish to be quoted.
Most of the people who know him declined to speak after news about the $1.8 billion PNBBSE -11.97 % fraud allegations broke and those who did, declined to be identified. Many of India’s top designers flatly denied any past association with Modi. Other admitted to collaborations but said this was handled not by them but by sponsors.
But beyond the news flow or the pomp, NiravModi, 46, is a quintessentially sharpBSE -5.00 % Gujarati entrepreneur, dead serious about building a global empire. The selection of his models, stores or even roping in former Facebook country head Krithiga Reddy as an advisor underscores that burning ambition.
An ex-employee on condition of anonymity said Modi’s strength lied in the fact that he was actively involved in all aspects of running the company. "He believed in the details…From designing to HR policies to minute details of any event he was happy inputing."
He was among the first to supply diamonds according to client specifications in the 1990s, assorting them by size, colour, weight and size to enhance the buying experience; the earliest to sense the shift in global manufacturing bases from Europe to Asia or even the importance of retail.
The jewellery brand was thus a natural progression.
When an intricately designed lattice necklace in pink and colourless diamonds with a pear-shaped 12.29 carat Golconda diamond at its centre racked up $3.56 million at the Christie’s Hong Kong auction in 2010, Nirav Modi finally had his breakout moment.
His associates argue that Modi, the first Indian jeweller to get featured on the cover of Christie’s catalogue, had been plotting his moves from much before. He had already in 2005, bought into Frederick Goldman, his biggest customer in the US, that was then seven times his size. This in turn gave him a direct access to outlets like JC Penny, Sears and even a Walmart.
Two years later, Modi expanded his US distribution through a majority partnership in Sandberg & Sikorski, a vendor to the US Armed Forces and owners of the 120-year-old luxury bridal jewellery brand, A Jaffe. Till date, his shopping bill is a neat $50 million and with his eyes on the luxury watch market, most expect more.
For a man who has built a billion dollar enterprise, diamonds are in his DNA. His father also a diamond jeweller migrated to Antwerp Belgium but Modi returned to Mumbai to learn the trade from maternal uncle Mehul Choksi, who like Modi, have also faced allegations of fraud. Modi’s twin businesses – Firestar, a trading arm which he now says he will sell to pay all his dues and his retail label – have provided the foundation that saw him even plan an IPO.
With CBI and other investigative agencies hot on his heels, unlike the ‘endless band’ – an unbroken line of diamonds set in an almost invisible 18k white gold band – that he created over 2 decades, his empire may come crashing at the same speed in which it took off in the first place.
Source: Economic Times
Not his eponymous jewellery label though.
Within a span of a decade, and emerging out of nowhere, it has blazed its trail across high streets of Madison Avenue or MGM Macau and Marina Bay Sands to emerge as the biggest luxury label to have ever come out of Asia. Till the law caught up with him.
Meanwhile, his pieces ranging from Rs 5 lakh to Rs 50 crore have found a permanent perch across celebrity collarbones causing both awe and admiration among his peers and a jet setting clientele who swear by their fluidic yet functional designs.
More importantly his is a global brand with quintessentially Indian sensibilities. The faces that sell his dreams – Andreea Diaconu, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley or even PeeCee -- are global icons who have been ambassadors of marque labels like Gucci, Dolce & Gabbana or Belstaff in the past. Its Made in India but for a global audience.
So when he celebrated the 5th anniversary of his brand, he hosted a glittering event for his global uber lux clients who had flown in at Jodhpur’s Umaid Bhavan for a show that would have dazzled any normal soul.
Models sashayed in clothes made of fresh flower petals – handmade the night before the show – in a blinding display of opulence and grandeur. The glistening rocks were the showstoppers, as were the bracelets and earrings.
“There has always been whispers but he lived a life of glamour and mixed in the right circles. After a point nobody cared,” quipped an old acquaintance who did not wish to be quoted.
Most of the people who know him declined to speak after news about the $1.8 billion PNBBSE -11.97 % fraud allegations broke and those who did, declined to be identified. Many of India’s top designers flatly denied any past association with Modi. Other admitted to collaborations but said this was handled not by them but by sponsors.
But beyond the news flow or the pomp, NiravModi, 46, is a quintessentially sharpBSE -5.00 % Gujarati entrepreneur, dead serious about building a global empire. The selection of his models, stores or even roping in former Facebook country head Krithiga Reddy as an advisor underscores that burning ambition.
An ex-employee on condition of anonymity said Modi’s strength lied in the fact that he was actively involved in all aspects of running the company. "He believed in the details…From designing to HR policies to minute details of any event he was happy inputing."
He was among the first to supply diamonds according to client specifications in the 1990s, assorting them by size, colour, weight and size to enhance the buying experience; the earliest to sense the shift in global manufacturing bases from Europe to Asia or even the importance of retail.
The jewellery brand was thus a natural progression.
When an intricately designed lattice necklace in pink and colourless diamonds with a pear-shaped 12.29 carat Golconda diamond at its centre racked up $3.56 million at the Christie’s Hong Kong auction in 2010, Nirav Modi finally had his breakout moment.
His associates argue that Modi, the first Indian jeweller to get featured on the cover of Christie’s catalogue, had been plotting his moves from much before. He had already in 2005, bought into Frederick Goldman, his biggest customer in the US, that was then seven times his size. This in turn gave him a direct access to outlets like JC Penny, Sears and even a Walmart.
Two years later, Modi expanded his US distribution through a majority partnership in Sandberg & Sikorski, a vendor to the US Armed Forces and owners of the 120-year-old luxury bridal jewellery brand, A Jaffe. Till date, his shopping bill is a neat $50 million and with his eyes on the luxury watch market, most expect more.
For a man who has built a billion dollar enterprise, diamonds are in his DNA. His father also a diamond jeweller migrated to Antwerp Belgium but Modi returned to Mumbai to learn the trade from maternal uncle Mehul Choksi, who like Modi, have also faced allegations of fraud. Modi’s twin businesses – Firestar, a trading arm which he now says he will sell to pay all his dues and his retail label – have provided the foundation that saw him even plan an IPO.
With CBI and other investigative agencies hot on his heels, unlike the ‘endless band’ – an unbroken line of diamonds set in an almost invisible 18k white gold band – that he created over 2 decades, his empire may come crashing at the same speed in which it took off in the first place.
Source: Economic Times
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