New Delhi, June 16 -- A sharp rally in gold pushed many price-conscious Indians to choose studded jewellery instead of plain gold jewellery in the March quarter, sales data of leading retailers showed.

At Titan Co. Ltd, India's largest jewellery retailer by revenue and market capitalization, sales of diamond-studded jewellery grew 12% from a year earlier, while overall domestic jewellery sales grew 23.4%. Studded jewellery accounted for 30% of its domestic jewellery business during the quarter.

The story was different at its rivals.

At Kalyan Jewellers Ltd, the second biggest gold retailer, studded jewellery sales grew 47.6% from a year earlier, compared to 38% in domestic jewellery sales. Studded jewellery accounted for 31% of Kalyan'...