Bhima Jewellery Trivandrum undergoing restructuring

Ownership of three entities will go to three daughters of Dr Govindan, the promoter

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The soon-to-be centenarian jewellery group, Bhima Jewellery Trivandrum (BJT), is planning to restructure the organisation by transferring the ownership of three entities under the group to the three daughters of Dr B Govindan, the promoter of the group.

The restructuring of the group will see the ownership of Bhima Enterprise, the supply arm of BJT group, remain with Dr B Govindan and his wife.

The name ‘Bhima’ has been synonymous with gold jewellery, and for several decades, Bhima has been one of the most prominent names in the retail gold jewelry landscape of the country.

The restructuring move of Bhima Trivandrum has been revealed by the documents released by India Ratings, a leading rating agency. It also said the restructuring plan & execution is under planning stage, and the outcome is yet to be scrutinised.

Succession plan

BJT, as a group, has eight entities under its fold, and they are Bhima Jewellery Trivandrum, Bhima Jewellery Tirunelveli, Bhima Jewellery Vishakhapatnam, Bhima Jewellery Madhurai, Bhima Jewellery Nagercoil, Bhima Jewellery Salem, Bhima Jewellers & Diamond, and Bhima Gold and Diamond.

Bhima Jewellery Trivandrum (BJT) Group has been promoted by Dr B Govindan, who is the second-generation promoter in Bhima group, along with other four brothers, who also run similar lines of businesses.

Dr B Govindan has more than five decades of experience in the gold retail industry and the group has witnessed its third generation involving in the business as the three daughters of Dr B Govindan are also currently hands-on  in the day-to-day operations of the business, which also could pave the way for succession plan.

BJT group has demonstrated improvement in its scale of operations during the first half of the financial year 2023-24 (H1-FY24) by achieving 66 per cent of the reported revenue of  FY23, which had grown 31 per cent year on year (YoY) to reach Rs5,277crore.

However, BJT’s operating margin has been declining for the last three to four fiscals owing to increasing competition amid price increase.

“As a result, BJT has been required to maintain competitive pricing on making charges, and offer discounts and attractive saving schemes, which led to lower margin,” the rating agency document obseved.

The gold sales volume has decreased due to the increase in price, restricting the group’s profit margin growth. During FY21-FY23, the scale of operations grew at a CAGR of 33 per cent while volumes grew only at a CAGR of 1.1 per cent, the agency stated.