S.N.K JEWELLERY
About us
Three generations. One name.
The story of S.N.K Jewellery, from Karur in 1949 to a CNC gold factory today.
1949
It began with two boxes of jewellery.
Before there was a jewellery business, there was a family grocery shop in Karur. The family farmed their own land and sold its produce, along with goods from other farms, over a small shop counter.
In 1949, at twenty-five, S.N. Kuppusamy Chettiyar set out on his own. He rented a small space in front of someone else's godown, with barely room for a table and a chair. On the table sat two boxes of jewellery. He sat there from morning to evening, every day, and people came to buy from him.
In 1953, he bought a building of his own and ran the business independently. When the Gold Control rules of 1963 allowed only 14-carat jewellery to be made, many left the trade. He stayed, obtained a Gold Control licence, bought gold through official channels, and kept the business going.
That was the start of S.N. Kuppusamy Chettiyar & Co. Everything that followed began at that table.
The generations
Each generation took it further.
First generation
S.N. Kuppusamy Chettiyar
Founder, 1949
A young man with a small counter, two boxes of jewellery, and a reputation he built one customer at a time. He gave the business the name it still carries.
Second generation
S.K. Sathyanarayanan
From 1965
In 1965, at nineteen, S.K. Sathyanarayanan lost his father and inherited the business overnight, along with the responsibility for his family. He learned the trade while running it.
He ran it the only way he knew: with discipline, care and complete honesty. He steered S.N.K through the long years of Gold Control, when every gram was regulated, and made it one of the most trusted names in Karur.
People knew him for his character as much as for his jewellery. To many in Karur, he is still an example of how business should be done.
Third generation
S.S. Ravi
Chief Executive, since 1985
S.S. Ravi joined the business in 1985, at sixteen, and brought a very different outlook. Where his father was careful and measured, he was bold and ready to take risks. Between them, the business gained both.
Having studied diamond technology in Surat, he had seen how the trade worked beyond Tamil Nadu and had friends across India. He became one of the first in Karur to source jewellery from across the country and bring it home to sell.
In 2010, he took S.N.K fully into wholesale and began producing its own jewellery through trusted goldsmiths. Karur kodi became its defining product for an era. In 2021, manufacturing moved in-house, into our own factory, and today S.N.K cuts its designs on CNC.
In his words
The story, told by the man who lived it.
S.K. Sathyanarayanan took charge of S.N.K in 1965. Here, he shares what those years were like.