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A Jeweller Who Dressed the Nizam

In 1920, a man named Sri Tibarumal Gupta opened a jewellery firm in Hyderabad — a city already drunk on diamonds, pearls, and the extravagance of one of the wealthiest royal courts the world had ever seen. The timing was not coincidental. The seventh Nizam of Hyderabad, Mir Osman Ali Khan, was at the height of his reign, and Hyderabad’s appetite for fine jewellery was unmatched anywhere in India.

Tibarumal Gupta set up his first store near the iconic Charminar, in the heart of Hyderabad’s historic trading district — ground zero for the city’s gem and jewellery trade. He came to be known for lavish, exquisitely designed and crafted pieces, and his jewels adorned the city’s elite. Before long, he had earned what was perhaps the most consequential endorsement available in Deccan India at the time: he became the favourite jeweller of His Exalted Highness, the Nizam of Hyderabad himself.

To understand what that meant, consider the Nizam’s collection. Mir Osman Ali Khan’s treasury reportedly included 25,000 diamonds, and the legendary Nizam’s Diamond alone weighed 400 carats — said to be the second largest in the world at the time. A jeweller who earned the Nizam’s trust was not simply making sales. He was operating at the very summit of Indian craftsmanship, where the standards were set by a patron who treated diamonds the way ordinary men handle pocket change. That Tibarumal Gupta earned this relationship in the early years of his business says something specific about the quality and artistry he brought to his work.

Serving the house of the Nizam gave Tibarumal Jewellers a distinct edge that outlasted the royal court itself. It helped the firm understand refined tastes and inspired an ongoing pursuit of how craftsmanship and design could evolve with greater richness over time — a philosophy that would carry the name forward across generations.

Three Generations, One Name

Sri Tibarumal Gupta had three sons. The vision and mantle of the business was passed on to one of them, Mr. Ram Bharos Gupta, who carried the legacy forward with such success that the name “Tibarumal” became, in the words of the firm’s own history, a sufficient guarantee of unparalleled quality and authenticity.

Ram Bharos expanded the venture and began creating distinctive designs suited to the post-independence era — serving a new class of Hyderabad’s elite who emerged after 1948, when the Nizam’s court dissolved and the city began its transformation into a modern metropolis. The business moved with the city, never anchored only to its royal past but always drawing on it.

The third generation arrived in the form of Mr. Pankaj Gupta, a bespoke jeweller, designer, manufacturer, and retailer who blended traditional and contemporary jewellery with design as his core strength. Under Pankaj’s direction, the firm deepened its diamond expertise and eventually gave birth to Tiraa by Tibarumal Jewels — a boutique concept offering limited-edition contemporary and traditional jewels for the discerning customer. The motto that Sri Tibarumal likely lived by without ever needing to state it was eventually formalised: “Trust is Our Tradition.”

By the time the fourth generation came of age, the name Tibarumal represented something rare in Indian retail — a multi-generational family jewellery house with a documented, unbroken lineage stretching back over a century, rooted in the same city, serving the same community, and still making pieces by hand.

What Made Tibarumal Different

It is worth asking what actually separated Sri Tibarumal Gupta from the many other jewellers working in Hyderabad in the 1920s. The city had no shortage of craftsmen and merchants. The Golconda mines — once the world’s primary source of diamonds — had shaped Hyderabad’s identity as a gem city for centuries before Tibarumal was born.

The answer probably lies in how he sourced and understood materials. According to family accounts, Tibarumal used to travel regularly to Mumbai, Jaipur, Gujarat, and Chennai — because different regions of India had their own jewellery styles, and he wanted to understand all of them. This was not a man making pieces for a single market. He was studying the breadth of Indian jewellery tradition and bringing that knowledge back to Hyderabad.

An eye for quality and his ability to recognise exceptional gems helped Tibarumal build a reputation that transcended the purely local. The Nizam’s court was cosmopolitan — it attracted craftsmen, merchants, and connoisseurs from across the subcontinent and beyond. To stand out in that environment required something beyond technical skill. It required taste, judgment, and the kind of credibility that only comes from consistent, uncompromising work.

That combination — broad material knowledge, refined taste, and a commitment to craft over commerce — is what the Tibarumal name has carried for over a hundred years. It is also, not coincidentally, the foundation on which Elevé Diamonds was built.

How the Legacy Became Elevé Diamonds

The fourth-generation chapter of the Tibarumal story began with an incident that Trishank Gupta — grandson of Pankaj Gupta and great-great-grandson of Sri Tibarumal — has described publicly. A client brought in a diamond she had purchased elsewhere. When Trishank examined it, he realised it was a lab-grown diamond — and the jeweller who had sold it to her did not even know that. “That incident made me think about the future of the industry,” he has said.

What followed was a period of research into lab-grown diamond sourcing, technology, and accessibility. In 2025, Tibarumal Jewels launched Elevé Diamonds as a separate brand — a lab-grown diamond label led by Trishank Gupta as managing director alongside co-founder Prajay Maganlal. The brand debuted with flagship stores in Kokapet, Kompally, and Warangal, with further expansion planned through 2026.

Elevé uses CVD-grown diamonds, each precision-cut and IGI-certified, set in handcrafted pieces made by artisans trained in Tibarumal’s design tradition. Creative direction continues to be shaped by Pankaj Gupta, whose aesthetic signature runs through the collections. The line includes Nizam-inspired pieces — a deliberate nod to the royal relationship that Sri Tibarumal built in the 1920s — alongside Victorian and Polki reinterpretations and coloured gemstone designs.

The brand’s positioning is described as “relatable luxury”: accessible to young professionals buying everyday pieces, while still carrying the craftsmanship standard that a century-old name demands. For Hyderabad customers who want to browse the full range of lab grown diamond jewellery — including rings, necklaces, earrings, and pendants — Elevé’s online store reflects the same design philosophy that guides its physical showrooms.

As Trishank Gupta put it: “with Elevé, we’re not just continuing the family tradition; we’re elevating it.”

Why the Tibarumal Name Still Matters in 2026

Heritage claims are common in jewellery retail. Almost every established brand in India traces its roots to some founding story, some royal connection, some century-old workshop. What makes the Tibarumal legacy worth understanding — and worth trusting — is that it is specific, documented, and continuous.

Sri Tibarumal Gupta founded his firm in 1920. His son Ram Bharos expanded it. His grandson Pankaj deepened it. His great-grandson Trishank is now taking it into lab-grown diamonds. Each generation made a distinct contribution. None of them simply coasted on the name.

For a buyer in Hyderabad today — whether they are looking at diamond earrings or an engagement ring — the question of provenance matters more than it probably did a decade ago. Consumers are asking harder questions about where their diamonds come from, how they were made, and whether the brand behind them has the expertise to stand behind its claims. A brand backed by over a century of diamond knowledge, with artisans trained in a tradition that once dressed the Nizam of Hyderabad, is not making an empty promise when it talks about quality.

That is the inheritance Elevé Diamonds carries. Not just a family name, but a specific, tested, generationally-refined understanding of what fine jewellery requires — and what it means to the people who wear it.