"The idea is to penetrate the country's bullion market which is one of the biggest in the world," he said. At present, the bullion market is dominated by small jewellers which ARY Traders is targeting to stock their products. The ARY Bullionaire contest is being organised in association with The Indian Express Group of Newspapers.

"We are offering `Rainbow Hearts' and gold bars of 1g to 1 kg to the customers. The current market drive is to popularise our brand name which stands for purity, clarity and quality," he said. The ARY Bullionaire contest was held in Mumbai on Thursday.

The contest will be held in Ahmedabad on November 23, Calcutta onNovember 26, New Delhi on December 1, and Chennai on December 3.

In fact, the World Gold Council (WGC) has recently said the Indian year-to-date demand for gold was 19 per cent higher than in the first three quarters of 1997. The demand in the third quarter of 1998, after two quarters of buoyant growth was, however, 17.8 tonnes, lower than the record level reached in the third quarter of 1997.

However, a direct comparison between 1997 and 1998 was not appropriate because of liberalisation of imports and the consequent improved method of measuring demand, WGC clarified. "While in the past import data was based on estimates of imports from Dubai, it is now collected directly from gold importing banks and official bodies," it said.

ARY Traders has started selling its products in the metro cities and plans to get into the smaller cities in the coming months. Besides, Rainbow Hearts by ARY Traders, branded gold is offered in India by Titan Industries and Gili.