Stay abreast of the fast moving economic super-power — India!
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Stay abreast of the fast moving economic super-power — India!
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Retail News November 2008
Big players – Plans and InvestmentsReliance Retail’s JV with UK logistics co Wincanton falls through General Trends & InformationLess sparkle for retail shops, malls this Diwali Regional TrendsReliance Retail opens third mart in Gujarat International NewsGlobal food retail chain Spar forays into India HR NewsTemporary staff too hit by downturn Apparel & AccessoriesLerros on expansion mode Lifestyle & Luxury RetailingDLF eyeing Luxottica franchisee Big players – Plans and InvestmentsReliance Retail’s JV with UK logistics co Wincanton falls through Reliance Retail (RRL) and the UK-based supply chain powerhouse Wincanton have called off their proposed joint venture. The venture was to manage RRL’s transportation, warehouses and inventory so that stocks reached the stores in time. All these are critical for any retail business, and many of RRL’s problems arose due to glitches in its supply chain. According to sources close to the development, the likely deal was shelved after Wincanton realised that RRL was unlikely to meet its initial growth projections and generate expected volumes. Asked about the new development, the Reliance spokesperson said: “As a large retailer in the country, we continue to explore various options to manage our various supply chain requirements. These include discussions with several global companies. We will make the relevant announcement on finalisation of a relationship.” RRL and Wincanton had signed an MoU and negotiations had reached advanced stages. The talks, however, were derailed after Wincanton saw a gap emerging between its expectation and what was being rolled out on the ground in terms of RRL’s expansion. In November 2006, India’s largest conglomerate Reliance Industries announced its foray into consumer retail with Rs 26,000-crore investment. Reliance Retail currently has a supply chain network to service its retail stores, but hasn't so far been able to attain a very high level of efficiency, as could have been provided by the $4-billion supply chain specialist Wincanton. The UK firm, which has a pretty large list of clients, including retail giants Tesco and Woolworths, auto companies Ford and DaimlerChrysler, and consumer goods firms P&G, Nestle, SABMiller and GSK, could have taken the burden off Reliance's shoulders and made the supply chain more efficient for the Indian retailer. This could have, in turn, brought down Reliance Retail's expenditure, improved its delivery and ultimately, given it an edge over its rivals November 3, 2008 Trent Ltd, the flagship retail arm of the Tata group, has announced the launch of its value format store ‘Fashion Yatra’. The first store was inaugurated on Monday by Ms Simone Tata, Chairman Emeritus, Trent Ltd, at Metro Junction Mall in Kalyan, Mumbai. Commenting on the new format, Ms Simone Tata said “The strength of Trent Ltd lies in being able to provide our customers garments that suit their specific needs. Fashion Yatra is our latest venture to pro vide customers in Kalyan really fashionable choices at great prices.” October 21, 2008 Big Bazaar: Great Indian retail story turning niche & premium In its infancy, organised retail in India has become amoebic—flexible and ever changing. While the great Indian retail saga has just begun, the unpredictable Indian customer is forcing retailers to shun their morphed formats and be a little more experimentative than before. Across cities, retailers are providing a range of brands and products to match consumer preferences. Sample this: While Future Group’s Big Bazaar closed its two outlets in Ahmedabad, it launched its ambitious luxury format Ethnicity recently. Considering the urban-poor consumer in one pocket of the city couldn’t help the group realise its target, it has now focussed on the cash-rich consumers. The uncontested king of Indian retail, Kishore Biyani, however, is unperturbed with closures and intends to introduce yet another format ‘Central’ to the city in near future. “For any retail venture, the success rate is mere 20-30%. So, I do not think that there are any issues with stores closing down,” asserts the man who gave the country its first taste of organised retailing. Pantaloon Retail (India) zonal chief (Gujarat) Anand Adukia adds that there is room for every player in this kind of market. “You have to keep experimenting and create a category to click with your customer,” he says. Sector analyst Harish Bijoor points out that under the present circumstances change is the only constant. “Big Bazaar operates on the cafeteria approach whereby the retailer intends to convert footfalls for groceries to generate sales for other products like garments, consumer durables, et al. However, considering Big Bazaar has not been able to sustain consumers’ interest (in Ahmedabad) making it difficult for the company to continue with it, the group has decided to focus on Ethnicity and Pantaloon that are niche categories. Big Bazaars are the dollar stores of India, but as competition in the ‘mass category’ is huge, Future Group is learning from its experience and becoming amoebic in its offering. It has not arrived at a format and depending on a city it is changing its approach,” he points out. October 27, 2008 Future Group launches retail chain for ethnic products First ‘Ethnicity’ store opened in Ahmedabad; 8 more to come up in two years. With a view to providing a bigger and organised platform for ethnic products in the country, Kishore Biyani-promoted Future Group has launched a retail chain of stores to market ethnic brands and products of India. The retail giant today rolled out its first store for ethnic brand called ‘Ethnicity’ in Ahmedabad. The group plans to start 8 such stores in various cities over the period of next two years. Future Group is likely to pump in around Rs. 7 to Rs. 8 crore for each Ethnicity store, which will be spread across 25,000 to 30,000 sq. ft. Nationwide, western brands have a wider platform than the ethnic brands. Our new concept of ‘Ethnicity’ is aimed at providing a space for smaller Indian brands and ethnic products. The stores will have wide collections of ethnic and fusion wear, jewellery, handicrafts, home decor, beauty products and accessories and gifts. All these products will be Indian, said Kishore Biyani, Group CEO, Future Group while launching the first Ethnicity store in Ahmedabad. “In order to provide a bigger market to ethnic brands, space for such products should be there in shopping malls and that is the reason why Future Group has come up with such a unique concept”, he added. He also expressed hopes of achieving a topline of Rs. 10,000 crore this fiscal. The Future Group clocked total revenues of Rs. 6,500 crore last fiscal. October 20, 2008 Wadhawan Retail to invest Rs 1,500 cr in expansion by 2013 Mumbai-based retail food and grocery player Wadhawan Food Retail (WFRL) plans to invest Rs 1,500 crore over the next four years to set up 1,300 stores across the country. The retail chain, which runs stores under four branded formats -- 'Spinach', 'Sabka Bazaar', 'The Home Store' and 'Smart Retail' -- currently has 200 stores. "Our expansion plan would cater to all the brands and we are looking at having a total of 1,500 stores by 2012-13," Wadhawan Food Retail Managing Director Ashok Bhasin said. He said the company is looking for a daily average footfall of 15 lakh in its stores once the expansion is over. "We have currently an average footfall of around one lakh across all our stores. We are looking at increasing our footfall by 15 times over the existing figure when all our additional 1,300 planned stores are in place," Bhasin added. WFRL began its food and grocery retail operations in 2005 with the 'Spinach' and 'Smart Retail' brands, and subsequently acquired the Sabka Bazaar and The Home Store brands. It also runs a non-store format direct-to-home delivery business 'Sangam Direct' which the company acquired from Unilever India. Asked about the funding of the investments, he said it would be through debt and internal accruals. Bhasin said the company would continue to position its stores as neighbourhood stores. October 19, 2008 Subhiksha charts Rs 1,000 crore investment Chennai-based discount retail chain Subhiksha Trading Services, which owns the popular retail chain brand Subhiksha, is planning to invest up to Rs 1,000 crore to fuel its expansion plans, including its foray into new verticals. The company is mulling various options including diluting part of the promoters stake in favour of financial investors to raise funds. The retail chain is likely to get listed on the two national trading platforms—the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) and the National Stock Exchange (NSE)—through a reverse merger with its newly acquired publicly traded entity Blue Green Construction and Investments Ltd (BGCIL) soon. Subhiksha is eyeing a revenue target of Rs 15,000 crore by 2012. The company’s plans recently got a fillip when Wipro founder Azim Premji picked up close to 10% stake in the venture. Subhiksha, after getting initial funding from leading investors including ICICI Ventures, is planning to raise Rs 600 crore from the market. It has an option to raise funds from new financial investors or through a rights issue, said R Subramanian, managing director, Subhiksha Trading Services. “We will be raising Rs 400 crore internally to meet the overall expansion cost of the company,” he told FE, adding, “We are not looking at strategic investors but financial ones.” “Our objective is to become a leading organised retailer in India. We want to have at least 2,200 stores by March 2009 and 3,000 stores by March 2010 from the current level of 1,650 stores as of September 2008,” he said. October 14, 2008 General Trends & InformationLess sparkle for retail shops, malls this Diwali This might well be the most low-key Diwali in recent memory, if one goes by the lacklustre consumer spending at retail outlets and malls across the country. In one of its worst recessionary festival period, the country’s $365 million retail sector has started witnessing stagnant demand, as compared to 25-30% demand growth reported during the corresponding period of the previous year. According to industry experts, if the recessionary trend continues for the next six months, then retail majors could even look at shutting down their existing stores and hypermarkets in various cities, across the country. Retail consultant Kiran Kothekar, Vector Consulting Group, told FE, “The slowdown in retail is mainly due to two main factors: First, there is less consumer pull. The second factor is the mismanagement of product availability at hypermarkets due to miscommunication while replenishing orders.” The turmoil in the stock markets has created a dent in customers’ purse strings and has demotivated them to spend than they were willing to. Hence, retailers too are holding on to placing new orders for products, in order to avoid further risk of dip in profits. Despite certain factory outlets offering huge discounts on branded apparels and shoes, retailers are facing a slump in demand. Despite this, they have been unable to woo consumers and spur volumes. According to India Retail Market Review, from just three malls in 1999 to about 130 in 2008, organised retailing has multiplied more than 40 times within the decade. Organised retailing is pegged to grow further taking up a market share of 10% by end-2010. Retailers relocate, resize to ensure long-term growth At a time when the global liquidity crisis may severely hit consumer spending, Indian retail majors have intensified their efforts to ensure the long-term viability of their forthcoming stores. While expansion plans are still on track, retailers like the Future Group, Spencer’s, Trent and Raymond are going flat out to reduce the possibilities of shutting and relocating stores. The players have adopted a two-pronged strategy - intensify study of the catchment area, competition and consumer shopping pattern for the new stores and shut down and relocate/reformat non-profitable stores. The aim is to evolve the right store and format fit for a particular location. “Though it’s still early days, relocation or restructuring of unviable stores will become a critical issue in the days to come. As shopping culture evolves in an area and the scale of our operation grows, such issues crop up,” Future Group CEO-Retail Rakesh Biyani told ET. Future Group has recently relocated one Big Bazaar store in Ahmedabad and changed the format of another. Spencer’s, in turn, has shut down 40 of their unviable outlets and relocated them to newer areas. Even Raymond has closed down three outlets. “If such relocations are undertaken after 3-4 years of a store’s operation, the costs are normally written off,” adds Mr Biyani. Spencer’s Retail has formed an internal research team which works closely with IMRB and AC Nielsen to undertake such studies. “We now have a 99% accuracy model to ensure the success of new stores. While globally retailers relocate around 10% of stores, it is still much less in India,” said Spencer’s Retail VP (marketing) Samar S. Sheikhawat. Retailers have also started talking with mall developers to check such viability. “While deciding on the location of new stores, we take into account the mall builder and his vision - mall management and maintenance; the prospective tenants; location of the store within a mall or high street; competition and related financials,” said Smeeta Neogi, head-marketing (Westside), Trent. Raymond Apparel president Shreyas Joshi feels it is still location that is key to a store’s survival. “There are a few of our stores that have proved to be disastrous. If we feel these stores won’t show much improvement in the long term, we shut them. When a mall isn’t performing we renegotiate with the developer. We then either opt for a revenue-sharing model instead of fixed rentals or negotiate to bring down the rent,” he said. However, Mr Joshi feels there are still no foolproof ways of tackling such a situation in advance. “You cross the bridge when you come to it. Sometimes you book a location in advance based on its design on paper. Once it opens, it may so happen that it fails to attract the anticipated number of footfalls. In that case, the same rule applies,” he said. October 30, 2008 Retailers hoping customers will splurge before Diwali With just two days left for Diwali, organised retailers are hoping that more customers will come to their stores and lift sales, which have been slack in the past few months. Retail majors, including Reliance Retail, Koutons India, Vishal Retail and V-Mart have reported low to marginal rise in business but are hopeful that business will pick up in these days. Reliance Retail has witnessed sales and footfalls rising in the past 10 days after a period of slow business. "The month of October started in a slow way but over the last 10 days tempo has picked up across all our 840 stores located in various states. Diwali is the key selling season for any retailer and we expect to make the best out of it," Reliance Retail President and Chief Executive Officer (Lifestyle) Bijou Kurien said. He said the company is expecting a sales figure of "much higher than 15-20 per cent" over and above the normal rate during an average day. Asked about increase in footfalls, Kurien said: "Most of our outlets have been in business for less than one year and this would be their first Diwali. So, it is difficult to predict the footfall size." Apparel and accessories major Koutons India reported a decline in footfalls during the second half of September and first week of October. However, sales have picked up since then for the 1,465 store strong value chain. "Sales were a bit down in late September and early October. Since then it has moved upwards and we are having footfalls of around 10 per cent in excess of any normal day," Koutons India Chairman and Chief managing Director D P S Kohli said. October 26, 2008 Retail Woes: Mall supply to double in 2010 The retail party seems to be over, with rentals witnessing a major dip across the country. But what’s adding to the negative sentiment is the over supply waiting to come up in the next couple of years. It is estimated that the total mall supply in the country will double in 2010 as compared to the supply slated to come up this year. SundayET, along with global real estate services firm Cushman & Wakefield, conducted a survey in the top seven cities, which reveals that despite the slowdown this year, there will be more than 16.5 million sq ft of fresh retail space supply. In fact, by 2010, these figures are going to cross a whopping 32.5 million sq ft. Interestingly, this year the NCR region tops the list with more than 7.5 million sq ft of additional space, while in 2010 the retail supply here will come down to 5.5 million sq ft only. The real growth in the retail supply will come in Hyderabad, which will cross nearly 7 million sq ft in 2010. Experts say things will only get worse. Says Kishore Biyani, CEO of the Future Group: "The risk element of the developers will increase with so much supply slated to come up. To sustain this, we need to look and work at the dynamics of how the market can grow. Till such time the retail market does not grow, it will be very difficult to absorb such kind of space. In the near future, the market has to stabilise as far as rentals are concerned. Productivity is a key factor for any retailer to operate efficiently in a mall, in case of a leased deal. We have changed our business model and are now operating on a revenue-sharing model in the malls." Agrees Rajneesh Mahajan, director, retail, Cushman & Wakefield India: "The industry is taking stock of its progress and consumer response to various retail formats. The varying levels of acceptability of modern retail by consumers in different micro markets across India has led both developers and retailers to redraw their business plans. The consolidation or modification is largely to do with aligning the business models to the consumers’ needs, preferences and adaptation. This will lead to alignment of their expansion plans and of course correction in some of the past decisions." The supply in these cities may also see a correction in the coming years. The actual supply may be lower than the planned supply, due to delay in the delivery or some developers postponing construction. The large development houses that are going on with their projects may also run behind their timelines due to approval and construction delays. In certain cases, they may put on hold their projects due to weak consumer confidence in specific micro markets. The retail developers this time are much more cautious and may delay or alter their development plans. October 26, 2008 Mall owners opt for revenue sharing model as rentals fall Mall owners in India, hit by 20-25 per cent fall in retail rentals this year, will move towards the revenue sharing model with their tenants. Globally, all malls have adopted this business model, though most of the 600 malls in India have gone in for fixed rentals. Says Mr S. Raghunandan, CEO of Retail, Prestige Estate Projects, which owns and operates the Forum Mall in Bangalore, “Occupancy rates have to be made more affordable and this can only be done through the revenue sharing rental model.” Three to five years ago, when mall development took off in a big way in the country, mall owners were chasing the top line instead of the bottom line, says Mr Arvind K. Singhal, Chairman, Technopak India. Therefore, signing up tenants for space was more important, and the easier way to do this was through charging a flat rate. But with the market slowing down and retailers under pressure from both their shareholders and private equity partners, profit and loss of stores are taken more seriously. In such a situation, retailers are finding it difficult to sustain fixed rental rates. For mall owners too, falling rentals has become a cause for worry. With both the parties realising that it’s not really a totally inelastic situation, the retailing sector now prefers to follow a mixed rental pattern where the fixed part is decided by the brand of the mall and the variable part by the revenues of the retailers. The Minimum Guarantee scheme works better over a period of time, says Mr B.G. Uday, Managing Director of Bangalore-based Garuda Malls, though he still operates on the fixed rental system in both his malls. Prestige Estate has opted for revenue sharing model right from the beginning when it launched the Forum Mall five years ago. In Mr Raghunandan’s view, this works well for both the mall owner and the tenant “in both good times and bad times.” October 24, 2008 Gifts take backseat in troubled times For Poonam Barman, Diwali has always been peak business season. The 40-year-old businesswoman manufactures and sells small gift items such as candle stands, diyas, figurines, lamps, portraits and frames. In the past eight years, she has built an impressive repertoire of clients. Her items, she says, are sold in retail stores in major cities like Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore and Ahmedabad. Normally, says Barman, the sales go up by 80% before Diwali. "But this time few corporate houses have placed orders,'' she rues, "even those who have decided to do so have opted for smaller orders.'' The businesswoman from Kailash Hills illustrates the point. "Last year a company with a budget of Rs 500 per gift would order more than 1,000 pieces. Today the same company would slash down the budget for the gift to Rs 250 and order for 100 pieces. There's definitely a drop in handing out gifts this Diwali.'' Sumit Sawhney has a similar slowdown story to tell. A manager at the Archies Gallery in Connaught Place, his clients' list include several companies who place bulk orders of about 500 pieces such as cut glass items and Ganesha idols in the weeks before the Festival of Lights. "But this season the sales are down by 30% compared to last year,'' he says. Then he adds with an air of resignation, "I'm just hoping that some buying takes place over the weekend.'' There are three kinds of corporate gifting, says Sandeep Banerjee of Accor Services India, a company that provides services to corporate clients and public institutions. To begin with, corporates gift their channel partners like dealers and distributors. "But one sees no dip in gifting here as they want to keep their channel partners motivated,'' he maintains. Two, corporates gift their business associates. "Here too, no slowdown is noticed,'' he says. Three, corporates gift their employees. "Here, companies have maintained last year's level. There's no increase on this count,'' says Banerjee, the company's managing director. In this mood of gloom, a small upbeat story comes from Cadbury India, the new age sweetmeat that has given stiff competition to the traditional mithai sellers. "Chocolate is an affordable treat since we operate within a price range of Rs 5 to Rs 500. We believe chocolates will be the last to be scratched off people's shopping list during this Diwali,'' says Sanjay Purohit of Cadbury India. Sweetshops and grocery stores agree with his view. Anything to sweeten the bitter pill of lower sales. October 22, 2008 Govt keen on 49 pc FDI in multi-brand retail The Government seems to be aggressively pushing reforms that will help India attract foreign capital — be it portfolio flows or direct investment. Even though only six months remain for the general elections to kick in, Industry and Commerce Minister Kamal Nath is keen to allow FDI in the politically sensitive retail sector. Although Kamal Nath has repeatedly denied any plans to allow foreign companies to foray into multi-brand retail, government officials said a proposal to allow 49 per cent FDI in multi-brand retail has been circulated to other ministries. Further, his ministry has also recommended eliminating the 49 per cent cap on single-brand retail. It has also sought to hike the FDI limit in infrastructure related to broadcasting to 74 per cent from 49 to encourage direct-to-home business. Kamal Nath’s efforts to liberalise the foreign direct investment (FDI) regime, especially in the retail sector, could not fructify since the Left parties consistently opposed it, stating it would kill the neighbourhood kirana stores. A study by independent think-tank Icrier earlier this year said while small stores will be affected immediately, there would be no long-term impact on the unorganised retail industry. It is not just FDI that India will benefit from. Along with foreign investment, the global giants will bring technology for making the back-end of retailing more efficient. “In fact, it will improve the working condition of the youth employed in this sector,” said an official. October 20, 2008 Mixed fortune this festival season The festival season in October and November is what retailers and consumer goods companies look forward to every year. With bonuses in their bank accounts, salaried households make expensive purchases around this auspicious time. This year, there is hardly any cheer in the market place, though three festivals — Eid, Dussehra and Diwali — have fallen in the month of October. Several consumer electronics, automobile, personal care products and food item retailers say sales are sharply down. Even new home sales are learnt to be lackluster. “Customers are not spending on TV and refrigerators this year,” say a Delhi-based consumer electronics retailer. “Our inventories are full as we expected good sales during the festive season, but till now our sales are down by 15-20 per cent against last year.” “This year, it does not look like the festive season at all. The Navratri festival did not bring the customers to our showroom and our sales fell 40 per cent compared with last year,” say Sunil Arora, the owner of Shiv Motors, a multi brand two-wheeler retail outfit. Food products retailers are equally troubled as people have reduced their spending on dry fruits and biscuits. Retailers say sales have fallen at least 10 per cent. Experts say this is the result of the current global financial uncertainty and economic slowdown, though about 4.6 million central government employees have received higher salaries and arrears in their bank accounts. People have seen significant erosion in their wealth with the meltdown in the stock markets, making them cut down on lifestyle expenses. Banks have clamped down on retail finance after delinquencies have shot up. “Our sales are rocking as compared with last year’s festive season. Sales of LCD and plasma screen are really encouraging this time. We hope to see a growth of more than 20 per cent this season as compared with same period last year,” adds a senior functionary of another large consumer electronics firm. However, experts like Singhal sound skeptical of such claims. “The consumer sentiment has fallen, loan disbursement from the banks for consumer electronics has come down by Rs 2,000 crore this year. The market for consumer electronics cannot be better like last year,” Singhal says. However, big multi-brand retailers like the Future Retail, Shoppers Stop and Vishal Retail say they have increased sales between 15 and 20 per cent during the current festival season. “Our sales are up by 18 per cent this festival season against the same period last year. The consumer sentiment is down but we have managed to offer products at competitive prices and that is why our stores are witnessing increased footfalls,” says a top Future Retail executive. Govind Shrikhande, the CEO of Shoppers Stop, says that the sales of personal care products, accessories and apparels were up substantially as compared the same period last year. October 20, 2008 Retailers expect less people in market after festivals With the global liquidity crisis threatening to dampen the mood of Indian consumers, leading consumer brands have taken a wait-and-watch approach before narrowing down their strategies for the future. While Diwali is still slated to be relatively good, there could be a lull after the festive season. “This overall slowing down of the economy isn’t doing anything good to consumer sentiments,” said Levi Strauss (India) MD Shumone Chatterjee. “The Pujas were good for us, and we expect Diwali to do well too. But once that is over, we expect a lull. People will curb impulse buying and be less frivolous about the choices they make. Buying will be more need-driven,” he added. And quality-driven. Once the festive season is over, retail circles expect only serious shoppers who will indulge in brands that guarantee quality. And top brands are hopeful that they will be significantly less affected than lesser-known brands. “We expect all our brand-building exercises of the past to bear fruit during these tough times,” ITC’s Lifestyle Retailing divisional chief executive Atul Chand told ET. Wills Lifestyle will be launching new collections every six weeks and engage more actively with women customers, he said. Levi Strauss too is optimistic about the tougher days. “Our strategy is to cater better to heavier consumers. We will have fresh lines after Diwali so that consumers will be tempted,” said Mr Chatterjee. For most brands, however, their post-Diwali strategies will depend on the sales witnessed during the season. Raymond Apparel president Shreyas Joshi, for example, said it would be difficult to make judgements till the Diwali season is over. “Overall, store sales have definitely dipped compared to last year, though the Pujas went very well. Right now we are not thinking long-term. We prefer to take one month at a time,” he said. Incidentally, while Levi Strauss India has gone ahead with its plans to launch luxury jeans with designer Tarun Tahiliani, it has deferred the launch of a brand-new product category it was contemplating earlier. October 17, 2008 Malls not to light up market this time The trend of malls reporting 10-20% dip in footfalls in past couple of months looks like continuing into the Diwali season as well. Mall owners and retailers seems to have already accepted a sombre Diwali as fait accompli, with a number of them not going for a concerted marketing drive to garner more footfalls and sales. Technopak chairman Arvind Singhal says he is surprised by lack of aggressive marketing on part of malls. “The consumer confidence is lowest in last eight years. Unlike the real slowdown in 2000, India is witnessing a slowdown only in growth which is at 7-8%. The stock market crash does not have a direct bearing on us since only 3% of our population constitutes serious investors in the market. This means consumers haven’t lost money; they are only apprehensive and therefore sentiments are low.” Says New Delhi-based TDI Mall assistant V-P (marketing) Sonia Kathuria: “We have witnessed a 15% decrease in footfalls, especially on weekends, as people are scared to go to crowded areas. There are lesser people coming into the mall as compared to previous years during this time of the year.” It is a double whammy for us as market sentiment is low and we cannot do much (in terms of discounts et al) because of inflationary pressures.” Agrees Lee business head Chakor Jain: “We noticed as much as 15-20% decrease in footfalls after blasts in Delhi.” Select City Walk Mall MD Arjun Sharma says: “We cater to premium end of the market, which is so far not much affected.” Pacific Group, Ghaziabad, director Abhishek Bansal feels situation is not grave. October 16, 2008 In times of realty slump, city has oversupply of malls The Kohinoor group which had planned a six-storey mall as part of its Kohinoor City at Kurla has now decided to go in for a less ambitious two-storey one. The group has decided to instead increase the commercial component of the project. Even a strategic location bang opposite Santacruz station couldn’t help bail out the Hi-life mall which failed to get retailers for the top three floors of the five-storeyed mall. After six months, these floors are now being let out as office space after retaining the retail outlets on the first two floors. The swanky two lakh sq ft Atria mall at Worli has a high vacancy rate of more than 24%, the average vacancy rate in malls usually being 5%. The glut caused by the burgeoning number of malls in the city has led to several developers shelving their plans for malls and instead going in for office spaces. A few have been compelled to lease out part of their already constructed mall complex to offices after they found no takers amongst retailers. To make matter worse, at a time when the economic slowdown has caused retailers to go slow on their expansion plans, 1.7 million sq ft of supply is near completion in Mumbai and is expected to enter the market over the coming few months. According to Pankaj Kapoor, CEO of the real estate research and analyses agency Liases Foras, Mumbai’s real estate has an oversupply scenario in the retail sector with 125 malls in the city including the under construction ones. “Retailers are cost-sensitive and with inflation the profit margin of retail companies has gone down. The same is true for consumer affordability. DLF and India Bulls were the first to do away with their plans for malls or reduce the area for the same at their under construction projects at Lower Parel.” “Let alone the price factor, we were not getting any retailers in our project Hi-life at Santacruz. As developers we have to finish a project and move on to the next one. Instead of waiting for two years, we took a call to let out our mall for commercial use and we immediately found takers for one entire floor,” said Mukesh Patel from Neelkanth group. Another upcoming mall at Prabhadevi as well as a newly constructed mall at Bhuleshwar are amongst the ones to join the commercial bandwagon. Property analyst point that that a successful mall in central Mumbai has been witnessing their retail tenants periodically changing while another one in Malad has been of late seeing lower footfalls than before after the opening of a new mall in the nearby suburbs. Besides the slump, analysts state that in many cases the decision to convert upcoming malls projects into commercial has been fuelled by a September 2008 state government notification allowing IT parks to utilize 80% of the total constructed area for financial services and banks. IT parks that are allowed to build double the area allowed for normal buildings were initially allowed to let out only 30% of its space for activities other than IT and IT enabled services. Developer Vimal Shah, who had earlier announced plans for Akruti city mall at Andheri is amongst the many who will now construct a commercial project in place of the mall. Shah states that one reason for his choice is that in India anchor stores (the chief attraction at a mall meant to draw customers) offer very low rents. “It is so low that to make up for it the other retail stores in the mall are charged heavy rents. This makes it difficult for them to remain in the malls for long,” said Shah. October 14, 2008 Retailers defer expansion plans Retailers are in dire straits. After Reliance Retail, Future Group (Big Bazaar), & Subhiksha, it’s now the turn of Radhakrishna Group’s Foodland Fresh and Wadhawan Group’s Spinach to feel the heat of ongoing market volatility. Industry sources told SundayET that while Foodland Fresh, the neighbourhood convenience store of the Rs 500 crore RK Group, has closed down several stores in the last few months, Spinach, an easy-to-shop-in local store, owned by the Delhi-based Wadhawan Group, is also contemplating putting their expansion plans on hold for the time being. The global meltdown is pinching the pockets of the companies which are taking hosts of measures including closing not so profitable stores. RK Foodland has already closed a few Foodland Fresh stores in Mumbai. Confirming the news, Ivan Rodergues, VP formats and marketing, Radhakrishna Foodland said; “Foodland Fresh is definitely having a good, hard look at the current basket of neighbourhood food and grocery stores in Western Maharashtra and the unit economics of each and every store in that basket. We are not opening stores at the same pace as that of other retailers. However, we are definitely consolidating and moving ahead. It is a fact that we have closed down some stores and we will continue to do so going forward. At the same time we will grow the current Foodland Fresh stores organically.” Another company that is revisiting the retail strategy and taking a look at the market is Wadhawan Group’s Spinach. The company had plans of opening about 100 stores by March 2008 but has managed to reach only 38 so far. The company was looking at a pan India expansion plan and had hoped to have 250 stores by March 2008. The presence, however, has been limited to only 58 stores spread across Mumbai, Thane, Kohlapur, Nashik and Kolkata. Arvind K Singhal, chairman of Technopak, a global management constancy feels that it is too early to say if it will impact the retail arm of Wadhawan group. “Spinach is a profitable retail chain and they have laid down expansion plans. They will definitely shut down the non-performing stores. Seeing the market conditions, they might follow some other retailers to go slow on the expansion plans.” October 12, 2008 The Navratras, which is marked by buoyant consumption — be it clothes, food, durables — has given retailers never before reason to cheer. Despite the gloomy mood in the economy, leading retailers claim enthusiastic sales in the Navratras this year. Future group has had an ‘exceptional week’. “We have made an overall revenue of Rs 150 crore in the navratras this year as against Rs 95 crore in the Navratri days last year,” says a Future Group official. Similarly, Spencer’s, Subhiksha and Vishal Retail have seen robust growth this season. Says Samar Singh Sheikhawat, VP marketing, Spencer’s retail: “In the navratras this year, we have had a 20% growth in sales in the fashion (clothing and apparel) category and 15% in furnishings, electronics and upholstery category.” “There has been a 25-30% rise in revenues from food courts,” adds Sheikhawat. Similarly, Vishal retail has also witnessed a 20% rise in apparel sales across all its stores while also registering a rise of about 10% in food sales during the navratras. “Our sales are particularly encouraging in Eastern India. Consumers are buying in good quantities there,” says RC Agarwal, MD, Vishal retail. Rival Subhiksha retail is also claiming a 12% and 18% spike in sales of food and mobiles respectively. Technopak Advisors chairman Arvind Singhal says: “For value retailers, a revenue increase of about 10% can be expected across India”. Clearly, a superlative marketing effort has gone behind the performance. Value retailing does tend to do well in times of low economic confidence,” he says. However, Rajan Chibba, CEO, Interim Business Associates, feels that a combination of factors could be responsible for the impressive numbers registered. “Retailers could well have altered the value mix, putting pricey products on display,” he says. “Effective inflation today is about 20%. This could well have bloated the turnover figures over the last year.” October 10, 2008 Regional TrendsReliance Retail opens third mart in Gujarat Reliance Retail Ltd, which recently shrunk the size of its first Reliance Mart launched here in 2006, on Friday opened its third mart in Gujarat. The earlier marts were launched in Ahmedabad and subsequently in Jamnagar. The third mart in Gujarat is spread over 41,600 sq ft in the Ghatlodia area. In India, this is the 12th Reliance Mart and it would be marketing 22,000 products, the company said in a release here. Reliance Retail, a subsidiary of Reliance Industries Ltd, now operates 700 stores in 60 cities spanning 14 States with over 36 lakh square feet October 25, 2008 Reliance Retail outlets in Kochi Reliance Retail launched three of its formats simultaneously at the Oberon Mall in Kochi. They are Reliance Trends consisting of apparel, luggage and accessories specialty store, the Reliance TimeOut consisting of books, music and stationary and the Reliance Footprint with footwear, handbags and accessories. Spread over an area of 28,000 sq feet of shopping area, Reliance Trends offers some of the best Indian and international brands, a press release issued here has said. Reliance TimeOut spread over 21,000 sq feet offers an extensive range of books, music, movies and stationery, complemented with toys and gifts. Reliance Footprint is spread over a luxurious 8,000 sq feet shopping area and is dedicated to footwear, handbags and accessories. Commenting on the launch of Reliance TimeOut, Mr Bijou Kurien, President and CEO of Reliance Lifestyle, said: “We believe that we will usher in a new era in the retailing of leisure products in the State which recognises the growing needs of discerning customers.” October 17, 2008 Largest Megamart store opens in Bangalore Megamart, a pioneer in value retailing and the retail arm of India’s largest integrated textile manufacturer and a leading branded apparel & retailer, Arvind Ltd has launched its 3rd ‘Megamart Outlet Centre’ in Bangalore, the first two being in Chennai and Pune. The new look store located next to Deve Gowda petrol pump, Banashankari, will offer its customers a bigger and better value shopping experience. Spread across an area of 60,000 sq ft of retail space, the store will be home to over 200 top Indian and international brands and will delight customers with its proposition of ‘mega discounts’ this Diwali and through out the year. Soon we are also planning to have a food-court and even an entertainment zone at our store. With over 200 of the best brands on fabulous discounts, the new Megamart Outlet Centre is all set to be a complete delight for the trendy and value conscious Bangalore customers”. Megamart has also pioneered a very unique concept called ‘The Marketplace’. At the Marketplace the consumer is sure to find the best and cheapest deals in the city on some of the brands. So a customer knows exactly where to head when he is in the store October 17, 2008 Max Retail launches second store in Hyderabad The Max retail, a leading Dubai-based store, launched its second outlet in the city here on Monday. The store is designed to provide an international look and feel to shopper's experience. Max-the international 'Value-Fashion Retail' brand from Dubai-based Landmark Group offers the finest of international fashion in the most affordable price range starting from Rs 99 to Rs 599. With 78 stores globally, including 17 in India, the company plans to open few more stores in the country and by 2012, the number of the stores will be over 100. Vasanth Kumar, Executive Director, Max Retail talking to mediapersons said, "Max is currently the largest value retailer in the country. Being the pioneers in the value fashion retail segment, we envision ourselves as one of the leading contendens in the category." "We plan to be present across all metros and key Tier II and Tier III cities in the span of three years with 60 stories from the current 16," he added. Each store cost about Rs four crore and the yearly reveneue expected is Rs 10-12 crores from each store, he added. October 13, 2008 Bengal grants licence to Metro for opening store The West Bengal Government on Friday granted the Agriculture Produce Marketing Committee (APMC) licence to the German wholesale major Metro Cash & Carry India. With this, the company’s first outlet in Kolkata is set to be fully operational within the next six to eight weeks. The licence is valid for a period of one year beginning today. It has been issued, albeit with a few riders, by the West Bengal State Agriculture Marketing Board. Metro Cash & Carry has already invested Rs 140 crore in its Kolkata facility. The company had planned to invest $120 million on setting up four Cash & Carry wholesale centres in Kolkata alone. Around 350 people have been recruited and trained to serve the company’s business customers in the city. The Kolkata outlet has a selling space of 100,000 sq. ft and will have on offer 18,000 food and non-food articles, with special emphasis on fresh produce and farm products. It may be recalled that the West Bengal State Agriculture Marketing Board had granted a licence to Metro Cash & Carry to trade in APMC commodities in 2005. This was, subsequently, renewed twice in 2006 and 2007, and was to be valid till March 2008. However, in June 2007, the licence was withdrawn by the authorities. The grant of the APMC licence today follows the intervention of the Chief Minister, Mr Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, in the matter. October 11, 2008 International NewsGlobal food retail chain Spar forays into India Global food retail chain Spar started its Indian opeartions on Friday inaugurating the company's first supermarket at Hyderabad. The company has entered the Indian market under a licence agreement with global retail major Landmark Group's Indian subsidiary Max Hypermarkets, a release here said. Under the agreement, Max Hypermarkets will be responsible for the entire business operation- from capex outlay to day-to-day operations including the management of the supermarket, while Spar would provide knowledge transfer and technical expertise, it added. The 20,000 sq ft supermarket at Hyderabad offer products under categories like grocery, fruits and vegetables, bakery, dairy and take away foods, meat, poultry and fish, wine. It will also stock beer, tobacco, home textiles, personal care, crockery, kitchen appliances, travel and IT accessories, including imported items from Europe and South East Asia. Spar runs a series of supermarkets across 35 countries in four continents, the release added. October 17, 2008 Giorgio Armani enters India with flagship boutique in Delhi After the entry of high-end international brands like Christian Dior, Louis Vuitton, Dunhill and others into the Indian market, fashion luxury brand Giorgio Armani Thursday launched its flagship boutique and a store in the capital Thursday. Both are located at the upmarket Emporio Mall at Vasant Kunj in south Delhi. "I am truly excited to finally have a presence in India. This country, which perfectly mixes the spirit of adventure, the sense of mystery and majesty with the principles of elegance, sophistication and modernity, has long been a wonderful source of inspiration to my collections," Giorgio Armani said in a statement. The Giorgio Armani boutique covers over 277 square metres on one floor of the mall as against the Emporio Armani store that covers an area of over 210 square metres. The boutique's interior is entirely dedicated to Giorgio Armani's signature women's and men's apparel and accessory prêt-a-porter collections. The two outlets are managed by a newly formed joint-venture company between the Giorgio Armani Group, that designs, manufactures, distributes and retails fashion and lifestyle products, and the DLF Retail Brands Private Limited to form Giorgio Armani India Pvt Ltd. While the former has a 51 percent stake in the company, the latter has exclusive rights for the development of Armani retail stores throughout India. The Giorgio Armani Group designs, manufactures, distributes and retails fashion and lifestyle products including apparel, accessories, eyewear, watches, jewellery, home furnishings, fragrances and cosmetics under a range of various brand names. October 16, 2008 HR NewsTemporary staff too hit by downturn For all those who look forward to earn the extra buck as temporary, front-end workforce in the organised retail sector, this festival season may not be bright. According to staffing companies, the retail sector is not seeking temps in large numbers as they did in the past few years. The daily demand usually more than doubles in the October to January period, as large-format department stores step up hiring in the second half of the year that accounts for 60% of their annualized revenue. Several large department store chains ET spoke to said they would not be part of this story while a few others like Kishore Biyani’s Big Bazaar said they never hired temps in the past, and this year will be no different. “We have a daily demand for around 3,000-4,000 workers and this doubles every year during the last six months of every year. This year, the increase in demand has only been around 10%,” Teamlease Services chairman & co-founder Manish Sabharwal said. Teamlease is India’s largest temporary staffing company. “The number of temporary workers being hired is a function of the number of customers visiting stores. Though many large retailers are putting up a bold front, the evidence on the ground level shows that consumers are spending lesser this year and are not frequenting stores as much,” said management consulting firm Technopak chairman Arvind Singhal. “During the festive season, there’s usually a greater demand for temporary staff owing to overcrowding of sales counters and extension in shopping hours. This does not seem to be the case this season,” Mr Singhal added. The worsening economic scenario is beginning to impact shopping sentiments even though specific data to this effect is yet to surface. Retailers—especially in the fashion space—have admitted that the 20-day run up to Diwali The slowdown, however, is not the only reason behind slacking demand. There’s a serious security fear after the recent trail of bomb blasts targeting shopping hubs in the metros. “These bomb explosions at popular market areas in metros has dampened temporary hiring as retailers do not predict very high footfalls,” a sectoral analyst feels. Industry watchers also suggest that this year the demand for foot soldiers is lesser as most retailers may not be keeping their stores open for the extra hours to cash in on last-minute shoppers. Further, unlike in the past, retailers are also relatively better prepared to handle the increase in shoppers during peak season. Most organised retail players have seen significant improvement in floor-space management after investing in workforce productivity as the industry evolves in the face of heightened competition. Temporary staff in the retail sector are mostly hired by the large organised retail stores, consumer durable companies and FMCG companies to give demonstrations. In the festival season, while companies hire many temporary workers, they also tend to lose floor staff to competition. But attrition this year is down, for obvious reasons, again. October 30, 2008 Apparel & AccessoriesLerros Fashions India Pvt Ltd, a part of the Germany-based Pearl Global group, is looking at 15 retail stores showcasing its casual wear for men and women across the country in fiscal 2009, its top official said. The fashion retail brand with two stores in New Delhi and Noida plans to launch two in Bangalore, one each in Chennai and Hyderabad, two in Mumbai and a couple of more stores in Gurgaon and New Delhi, its CEO, Mr Ram Prasad said here. “We have also signed up for stores in malls in Chandigarh and Ahmedabad and have plans to launch 200 such stores in India in next five to six years with an investment of Rs 60 crore”, he said, launching the first store here yesterday. “We are, however, looking at an investment of Rs 15-18 crore for the current 15 stores”, Mr Prasad said. Each store will have an average floor space of 1,500 sq ft to display the Lerros casual wear line for the upper middle class men and women in the 20-45 age group, he said. On Lerros' positioning vis-a-vis the other global retail fashion brands such as Levis, Mr Prasad claimed Lerros had “an edge over others as we feel the current global offering is targeted towards the 15-25 age group and does not have much for +25 group”. October 26, 2008 Reliance Brands forms JV with Italy's Diesel Three months after calling off its tie-up with Arvind Brands, Italian fashion brand Diesel today announced a joint venture with Reliance Brands, an arm of Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Retail Diesel International and Reliance Brands have signed a 51:49 MoU. The JV is likely to start operations in 2009 with opening of stores in Mumbai and New Delhi before expanding to other cities such as Bangalore, Hyderabad and Chandigarh, a release from Reliance Brands said. “In Reliance Brands, we have found an ideal partner in size and management skills, and also a team of people with whom we perfectly align on all strategic plans about how to develop in the Indian market,” said Renzo Rosso, president and founder of Diesel, in a statement. Darshan Mehta, president and chief executive, Reliance Brands, added, “This joint venture is one of the most important milestones for the company. It is an exciting prospect to offer the complete gamut of offerings of the brand in India, including Diesel’s cutting-edge in-store experience.” October 14, 2008 Two more fashion brands are dipping their toes into the Indian market. On Monday, Giorgio Armani Group said it has opened its first Giorgio Armani and Emporio Armani stores in India, in the country’s first luxury center, the Emporio Mall in New Delhi. The stores are managed by a newly formed joint venture between Armani and real estate firm DLF Retail Brands Pvt. Ltd. The designer, who has a 51 percent stake in the venture, said he was “truly excited to finally have a presence in India. This country, which perfectly mixes the spirit of adventure, the sense of mystery and majesty with the principles of elegance, sophistication and modernity, has long been a wonderful source of inspiration to my collections.” Armani is among a host of European brands — including Hermès, Cartier, Stella McCartney, Lanvin and others — planting their first stores in the burgeoning market this year. October 14, 2008 Lifestyle & Luxury RetailingDLF eyeing Luxottica franchisee The country’s largest real estate developer, DLF, is set to sign a franchisee agreement with Italian group Luxottica to retail its premium and luxury eyeware brands, including Oakley, Ray-Ban, Chanel, Dolce & Gabbana, Donna Karan, Prada, Versace and Polo Ralph Lauren. Euro 15 bn Luxottica group is a leading designer, manufacturer and distributor of prescription frames and sunglasses in the premium and luxury segment. The group owns 10 premium eyeware brands, including Ray-Ban, Oakley, Vogue and Revo. Luxottica has licence agreements with 20 top brands, including Burberry, Prada, Tiffany and Salvatore Ferragamo. DLF will open over 100 Sunglass Hut stores over five years, under the franchisee agreement, which is initially valid for seven years, according to a source. The first store is likely to be opened in New Delhi next month. Luxottica currently operates over 2,000 Sunglass Hut retail stores across the globe. In all, the company has over 6,000 optical and sun retail stores across Asia, China, South Africa, Europe and America. Luxottica has been operating in India since 1999 when it purchased the ailing Ray-Ban from its then owner Baush & Lomb. The company has lately started distributing its other eyeware brands through a wholly-owned subsidiary in India. The company also has a local manufacturing facility. But now, DLF will take over entire distribution and retail of Luxottica’s products. The eyeware market has been rapidly growing in India. Besides several leading global brands, the domestic eyeware makers, too, have exploded on the scene trying to access different segments of the market. October 30, 2008 Rosebys kickstarts India operations with 6 stores in Chandigarh, Punjab UK-based textiles and home furnishings retail chain Rosebys Interiors, which was acquired by Gujarat Heavy Chemicals Ltd, has launched its retail stores in India beginning with Chandigarh and Punjab. The step is seen in response to the potential of people in the northern region to splurge in high-end products with national and international lifestyle & home décor companies heading here for expansion. The company simultaneously opened four stores in Chandigarh, Mohali, Panchkula and two in Ludhiana. Rosebys that already runs 300 stores in UK plans to establish its footprint in the Indian market by setting up a franchisee network of about 150 stores by the end of March 2009. Nikhil Sen, director Rosebys India Interior told FE, “We are aiming to establish Rosebys as a brand in India hence we will be opening 20-25 stores on an average in each state. By the end of this fiscal year, we plan to open stores in five states. We will soon be launching our retail stores in Delhi, Kolkata, Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh.” “With organised retail sector growing at more than 30% annually, there is huge untapped market for the home décor and lifestyle stores in India which is pegged around Rs10,000 crore. We are targeting this space across the country to deliver the world class product and shopping experience to consumers, Sen added.” In an earlier conversation with FE, Aloke Banerjee, CEO, Rosebys Interiors India had shared, “We are replicating the Indian franchise model to rejuvenate the stores in UK as well as explore new markets in Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary and Vietnam etc. We are planning to open about 700 stores in India in the next 4 years. The first phase will involve launch of retail stores in Punjab followed by West Bengal and other states.” Each of this range has a different concept and would have an entire product range from bed covers, bed sheets, towels, cushions, and adornments like photo frames, vases candles contemporary and unique range of home stainless steel ware and personal care products. Aloke said, “Home furnishings and décor market in India is largely dominated by the unorganised players.” “We are here to bridge the gap between the luxury and low-end market present in the home furnishings and décor market currently. We have a wide range of products to suit every aspiring woman.” he added October 28, 2008 Are luxury brands, malls future of Indian economy? Imported brands are passe, ultra-luxury foreign brands are now making their strong presence felt here. Malls are not the exception now, instead, they are the norm. The numbers speak for themselves: Mumbai is buzzing with malls at every corner, and yet, a recent retail report titled Upcoming malls, 2008 and beyond compiled by a real estate consultancy firm says Mumbai will be flooded with at least 30 new malls in the next two years. Add to that, three ultra-luxury malls dedicated solely to high-end brands that will open their doors to Mumbai in 2009. Phoenix Mills’ Gayatri and Atul Ruia are all set to introduce a luxury retail chain Palladium, which will offer exclusive and coveted luxury brands. This “luxury destination", as the Ruias call it, will house a range of international luxury brands. Then there’s the Hirani Group’s 55,000 sq ft, nine-level mall which will offer leading Indian and international brands. “The idea is to provide an experience that defines elevated living through a mix of Indian and international fashion brands. There will be a zoning of lifestyle, fashion and accessory categories and brands,” says Pradeep Hirani, Chairman of the Hirani Group. While malls are reproducing at a steady pace, the question remains: do the brands they sell have enough takers? Is the Mumbai consumer ready for an ultra-luxury goods invasion? According to Gayatri Ruia, the answer is a definite yes. “The decision to come up with this luxury mall was taken only after an intensive, qualitative research. There is an increase in luxury entrants into the Indian market, and the response is positive. Considering India’s current economic development, the time couldnt be more right. Fashion and luxury in Mumbai are going global, people’s spending power has increased, and the consumer now wants to move from high-street shopping to a high-end, upscale shopping experience,” says Gayatri. Image consultant Chhaya Momaya, who is on the advisory board of the mall, adds that while high-street brands are now becoming commonplace, luxury brands will cater only to the ultra-elite. “Luxury brands don't make a bold brand statement, on the contrary, they exude understated class. A luxury brand goes beyond just its name or label, it's an experience, a lifestyle statement,” says Chhaya. Sanjay Kapoor, Managing Director, Genesis Luxury Fashion Pvt Ltd, that has brought international luxury brands such as Canali, Paul Smith, Kenzo, Aigner and Just Cavalli to India, and plans to open over 50 luxury retail stores for its brands across the country in the next 3-4 years, explains the marketing strategy of these brands. “Globally, a brand’s decision to open in a location is guided by whether it is a fashion hub, is of historical significance, has aesthetic beauty or has the potential to radicalise the neighbourhood. In the past year, India has seen the opening up of retail environs for luxury, be it the UB City Mall in Bangalore or Emporio in New Delhi, allowing luxury brands the choice of stepping out of the environs of five star shopping hubs to stand alone malls. They are pioneers in establishing India’s Luxury Retail destination shopping outside a 5-star,” says Sanjay. However, there is a downside too, as Sanjay says, malls will always have a restriction of space, design and concept. "The character and charm of London’s Bond Street or Paris’s Rue de Fauborg St Honore cannot be recreated or captured in a mall." Pradeep Hirani too strongly believes in the future of the luxury market in India, and he attributes it largely to the booming Indian economy. “The luxury market may seem like a mirage today, but it will be an epidemic tomorrow,” says Pradeep. October 17, 2008
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