Company to invest in various projects of GIFT City aimed at creating a global financial hub

Dubai, UAE; March 07, 2015: Award winning jewellery retailer and the only World Diamond Mark (WDM) certified company in the GCC and India, Pure Gold Jewellers, today announced plans to invest USD 25 Million in Honorable Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's ambitious Gujarat International Finance Tec-City (GIFT) project which aims to create the first  global financial hub in  India. India's Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in his budget speech in February announced that regulations for investors in GIFT will be in place by March 2015. Pure Gold Jewellers will invest in various projects of GIFT City.

According to Firoz Merchant, Founder and Chairman of Pure Gold Jewellers, "An investment friendly tax regime like the GIFT opens endless possibilities for India's economy and the cost of transaction for businesses like ours will be more affordable. We decided to invest in the various projects of GIFT City as we see a huge potential in this for jewellery companies like ours in the commodity sector to avail of cost effective operations that will aid us in our expansion plans in India and also globally. With the support of the Honorable Prime Minister and the government as highlighted in the recent budget announcement, this is a project that has a strong backing and I firmly believe that GIFT will be a success story. "

GIFT City is a 50:50 joint venture between India's Gujarat Urban Development Company Limited (GUDCL) and Infrastructure Leasing and Financial Services (IL & FS) Limited and is a dream project of Honorable Prime Minister Narendra Modi that he had proposed in 2007 as Chief Minister of Gujarat.

As quoted in reports, while announcing the launch of the project, Honorable Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that the vision of Gujarat would be incomplete without capitalising on the in-house financial business acumen. He said that to tie-up with technology, to create a hub complete with infrastructure, to meet the needs of modern Gujarat, modern India and to create a space in the global financial world is his dream.

The project has generated great interest in the industry. India's National Stock Exchange (NSE) signed a Memorandum of Understanding on February 26, 2015 with the GIFT City to establish an International Exchange at GIFT City which will provide and electronic platform for facilitating trading, clearing and settlement of securities. It will also explore possibility of starting trading facilities in different asset classes like equities, interest rates, currencies, among others and their derivatives once the guidelines are being issued by the government and the regulators.

About Pure Gold Jewellers:
Pure Gold Jewellers is an award winning jewellery retailer recognized for excellent customer service. It is now one of the fastest growing jewellery brands with 125 stores in 12 countries.

Pure Gold Jewellers is a recipient of the "Best Service Performance Brand" award in the large business category for five years - 2007-2008, 2008-2009, 2009-2010, 2011-2012 and 2012-2013 - under the Dubai Service Excellence Scheme (DSES) of the Dubai Department of Economic Development.

The company also topped in the 'Best Customer Service' category in the UAE jewellery sector in an annual study by international consultancy Ethos Consultancy for the year 2009 and 2010.Pure Gold Jewellers has been consistently ranked as a Superbrand by UAE Superbrand Council for five consecutive years since 2009.

For further information please visit www.pugold.com

For media queries, please contact: Lisa George/Mahak Mannan, Iris PR, Dubai, UAE. Tel: +97144341207, Fax: +97144341163. E-mail: Lisa@irispr.net/ mahak@irispr.net.

© Press Release 2015