Pune, Aug 15 (IANS) Jewellery major PN Gadgil and Company is all set to launch two show rooms in the Silicon Valley, California, a top company official said here Friday. The first PNG store at Sunnyvale will be inaugurated on the last day of this month by former Hollywood action hero and Governor of California Arnold Schwarzenegger. Bollywood actress Ashwini Bhave will also be present at the launch event.

“We are hoping for a grand opening,” a partner of PN Gadgil & Co. Saurabh Gadgil told IANS. The date and exact location of the second showroom has not been decided yet, he said.

PNG chose Sunnyvale because of the huge presence of Indian software engineers in the region. As it is, NRIs account for 30 percent of the global Indian jewellery market.

“There are close to 300,000 Indians in that area apart from people coming from the rest of the world and love for precious stones knows no national boundaries,” Gadgil said adding that they have designed the first store to give it a truly global look with steel and white interiors.

There will be separate international sections with more stone-based designs since global customers like more colour in the jewels and lots of abstract designs.

In the US, Indian jewellery shops look very similar to the ones here, attracting fewer Americans. Gadgil, a new generation jeweller, wants to create a brand name for Indian jewellery.

Most Indian jewellery stores in the US are in the East Coast and mid-west, dominated by the Gujarati and Rajasthani communities. The Indian population in that part of America consists of people who migrated in the 1950’s and 60’s. In California, however, the people of Indian origin are a lot younger.

“We are targeting this generation who prefer plush stores,” explained Gadgil.

Most items sold in Sunnyvale will be priced just 20 percent more than in India and the Gadgils will manufacture them in India.

• Ashwini Bhave