Brand chiefs mark 10 obstacles in women and kids wear business

 

Over 30 decision-makers in or related to the women and children wear business, marked and discussed 10 issues that must be addressed for betterment of the industry.
The decision-makers got together at the Nokia Images CEOs Meet at the Pure and Play conference in Delhi. The participants included Tarun Puri, MD, Nike India; Marcelo Villagran, MD, Bata India; Thorsten Allenstein, country head, Triumph; Subhash Chhabra, president, Globus; Samir Sahni, director, Ritu Wears; Anchal Jain, founder, Nun; and Aloke Banerjee, CEO, Rosebys.
Anchored by Anuj Puri, chairman and country head, Jones Lang LaSalle Meghraj, and Jayant Kochar, MD, GoFish Solutions, the participants agreed that creating an ethnic brand for women is not an easy task as the category is dominated by the unorganised sector. They opined that dedicated and trained workforces in the manufacturing sector is one of the critical needs of the hour.
The chiefs also agreed that the industry needs well-researched information on various business aspects, right from studying fits and sizes to creating better shopping destinations and retail environments, to pricing and branding strategies in sync with the Indian consumers’ mindset.
Following are the issues that were marked out and discussed at the meet:

– Not enough kids and womenwear brands are present in the organised retail market in the country
– Complexities of creating ethnic womenswear brands
– Lack of adequate information on fits and sizes
– Lack of suitable retail environment for women and kids
– Lack of initiative from the retailers to understand and cater to the niche category
– There is neglect on the part of retailers towards the kidswear market
– Inadequate support from mall developers for womenswear and kidswear brands in terms of differential pricing and focus on retail space
– Not enough brand-building initiatives from the retailers
– The niche category needs to be widened to include accessories, and health and beauty products
– Lack of vision to do something ‘big’ in this niche category

Second MINC in Bengaluru

 

MINC, an eco-friendly apparel brand for women, has opened its second outlet in Bengaluru.
MINC is an upcoming brand that is backed by a unique concept of promoting eco-friendly fashion and support the use of organic cotton. The brand retails apparel made of hand-woven/spun, organic cotton and vegetable-dyed fabrics. It also focuses on traditional craft like embroidery, kalamkari and use of sequins to develop popular ethnic clothing, viz. kurtas and kimono throws.
The brand is the brainchild of Mishan Design Point’s owners – Mini Shibu and Kochery C Shibu.
According to Mini Shibu, the brand owner, MINC’s aim is to revive the beauty of the hand-spun/woven garments and infuse skills of the traditional weavers and dyers with latest trends, colours and styles to promote a ‘green’ lifestyle.
"The vision of the company is to bring eco-friendly apparel to mainstream fashion,” said Kochery C Shibu.
MINC collections are competitively priced in the range of Rs 630-Rs 1,800.
The company plans to expand through South India until 2010, and open outlets in metros by 2013.

Gap investing big on its CSR in India

 

Gap has joined hands with the ministry of women and child development, government of India, and various state governments for the welfare of children and women in the country. The company, in association NGOs, has also taken various initiatives to solve the water crisis caused due to manufacturing of denims in India.
Speaking to Indiaretailing, Lakshmi Menon Bhatia, director, global partnerships, social responsibility, Gap Inc., said, "We will form alliances with the central and some state governments including Bihar and Andhra Pradesh, for prevention, rehabilitation and eradication of child labour and exploitation of women labour at various outsourcing factories of the company."
The company has also initiated a special rehabilitation centre for women and children in association with Delhi-based NGO Self Employed Women's Association (SEWA) in the national capital. "We have planned to invest around $200,000 (over Rs 85 lakh) to build destitute homes in and around Delhi," informed Bhatia.
Besides, the company, with assistance from various NGOs, has planned to set up water rehabilitation plants at places where its factories are located. “Denim is a thirsty fabric and its manufacturing process consumes a lot of water. Hence, we have planned to set up water rehab plants in and around our manufacturing units,” said Bhatia.

India's online population up by 27% in 1 yr

The Financial Express

New Delhi: More number of people in India are online now than earlier with the size of cyber audiences rising to over 28 million users in 2008, a growth of 27 per cent over the previous year.

Not just India, internet audiences in Asia-Pacific at home and at work, among users of 15 years and above, grew by 14 per cent to 319 million visitors in April 2008, outpacing growth of all other worldwide regions, comScore, Inc, an internet marketing research firm said in a report.

"The strongest growth occurred in India which surged by 27 per cent to more than 28 million internet users. This was followed by China with a 14 per cent growth to more than 102 million," the report titled 'The State of Global Internet with a Focus on Asia' said.

Taiwan, Malaysia and New Zealand registered a growth of 12 per cent each. Meanwhile developed nations such as Japan and Singapore showed modest gains of 3 per cent and 4 per cent respectively, it said.

Other findings stated that although Google and Yahoo! combined to capture majority of the search share in the Asia-Pacific region, five of the top 10 search properties are regional engines, including China's Baidu.com and Korea's Naver.com.

Mark Zuckerberg's Facebook.com is the leading social networking site in the world, but in the Asia-Pacific region Friendster.com is preferred.

Internet users in Hong Kong, South Korea, Singapore, Taiwan and Australia spent most time online.

Indian basmati set to enter China, Mexico

 

New Delhi: Indian basmati rice will soon be cooked in China and Mexico. Presently, basmati exports reach more than 130 countries, and the government hopes to take advantage of the Chinese and Mexican markets in a couple of years.

"In a couple of years, we hope to carve a niche for basmati rice in China and Mexico as well," A.K. Gupta, advisor, Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA), India's official agri-product export promotion agency. He added that China held huge prospects for Indian basmati. India had exported 54 tonnes of basmati to China in 2006-07 on a trial basis.

"India's export of basmati is increasing 20 to 30 per cent every year," said Gupta. "In terms of quality, flavour and taste, our product continues to get preference over that of the rival exporting country," he said, referring to neighbouring Pakistan. "Efforts are on to expand the market worldwide," Gupta said in a statement.

India has an approximate share of 53 per cent in the basmati rice international market and promotional events such as buyer-seller meets, sending trade representatives overseas are on, to expand the existing consumer base. Major imports of India's basmati rice are into markets of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the UAE, the UK, the US, Yemen, Canada, Iran, Germany, Oman, South Africa, France, Syria, Belgium, Australia and Germany.

India's export of basmati rose from 848,919 tonnes to 1.05 million tonnes in 2006-07.

Previously, 597,793 tonnes had been exported in 1998-99. Production of basmati and non-basmati rice is likely to touch 129 million tonnes by 2011-12 on a growth rate basis of 3.7 per cent along with other foodgrains. "Four years down the road, India needs to increase rice productivity by over 40 million tonnes per year, something which is feasible," said an agriculture ministry official.

"In 2006-07, consumption of rice was 88.25 million tonnes. As per the fourth advance estimates on July 19, 2007, the production of rice was over 92 million tonnes. In April 2008, rice production went up to 95.68 million tonnes," the official added.

The Cabinet Committee on Prices (CCP) March 31 increased maximum export price (MEP) for basmati rice to US$ 1200 per tonne though is less likely to impact the export of basmati rice. Basmati and non-basmati rice are staple sources of foreign currency revenue for India. The government had earlier exported basmati worth about US$ 4.61 billion and non-basmati rice worth US$ 6.79 billion during April-December 2006.

APEDA data shows basmati rice exports to Saudi Arabia were 499,584 tonnes, 104,998 tonnes to the UAE and 109,067 tonnes to Kuwait in 2006-07. Indian basmati rice lovers include Uganda, Angola, Congo, Botswana, Fiji, Ghana, Cameroon, Chile, Romania, Zambia and Surinam.

GAP and Nike address ‘quality challenges’ at Pure and Play

 

The first session of Day III at Pure and Play saw Lakshmi Menon Bhatia, director, global partnerships, social responsibility, Gap Inc., and Tarun Puri, MD, Nike India, speak about the 'challenge of quality' in the business of retail.
Defining quality, Bhatia said, "Creating a right product at a right time with right pricing speaks about the quality of the brand." Puri insisted, "Quality is in getting the consumer back, and not the product. A brand should focus on judging its quality through its consumers and not make its own assumptions."
Highlighting their CSR activities, Bhatia said that Gap has been fighting against human trafficking worldwide. For Delhi, the brand has introduced a new technique of manufacturing denims wherein less quantity of water is required.
The next session saw Saloni Nangia, VP, Technopak, discussing the scope and opportunities of brand extension in women's categories. According to her, this segment of retail in India has a long way to go and is still untapped in many parts of the country.
Addressing the topic 'Scope in new emerging formats', experts including Arvind Nair, MD, DLF Retail; V Ramnath, director retail, Nokia; Andreas Gellner, MD, Adidas India; and Pranay Sinha, retail real estate consultant, discussed new possibilities of boosting the business of retailing women's and kids' wear in the country. The session was anchored by Anchal Jain, founder, Nun, who said that speciality stores for women in India are not growing, and that developers and retailers should work in sync to bring in innovations in the sector.
Speaking on the same issue, Nair said, "The evolution of mall space and mall development in India has just begun, and it will soon see new innovations being introduced to it." According to Sinha, shopping centres should focus on providing convenient shopping environment to women and children consumers.

CARREFOUR staff in China jailed for taking bribes

 

According to reports in the Chinese state media this morning, a Beijing court has sentenced eight local employees of Carrefour to prison terms of between one and five years for taking kickbacks from suppliers. The court was told the staff took payments from suppliers between May 2005 and July 2007 in exchange for buying their products or for displaying them prominently. The company said earlier that it would strengthen its efforts to combat corruption in its ranks and raise the "professional level" of its staff.

Blue Green, a route to Subhiksha’s consumer durables entry

 

The acquisition of 40 per cent stake in Blue Green Constructions and Investments, a non-banking finance company (NBFC) listed on the Madras Stock Exchange (MSE), provides the right platform for Subhiksha to enter the consumer durables space.
"We want to enter the consumer durables space in a big way, and Blue Green also had similar plans. Though they have not opened any outlets, they have identified some properties and built initial systems. They needed funds, and we thought that it was a good strategy to buy them,'' R Subramanian, managing director of Subhiksha, told media.
Subramanian said Subhiksha would invest Rs 800 crore in FY09 to expand its network and add consumer durables to its product portfolio. "It will also enhance value for our stakeholders and help us achieve our objective of becoming a $5 billion company," he added.

DLF might bring Boggi to India

DLF is believed to be in talks with the Italian fashion and lifestyle brand Boggi for a tie-up and introducing the latter’s shops in India.
Boggi has a considerable retail presence across Europe and the Middle East, and is likely to have a majority stake in the joint venture with DLF.
Boggi offers a wide range of men’s formal and informal clothing along with shoes, watches, fragrances and other accessories.
A DLF spokesperson declined comment on the likely tie-up.
Boggi is controlled by three Zaccardi brothers – Carlo, Caludio and Roberto – who also run multi-brand retail chain Brian & Barry. The firm owns and operates around 70 stores spread across Europe and the Middle East under Boggi and Brian & Barry brand names.

Pure and Play: News on the sidelines (Day II)

– Central and Lifestyle tie up with Isabelle
Isabelle, the Delhi-based kidswear brand, has tied up with multi-brand retailers Central and Lifestyle.
Confirming the news to Indiaretailing, Vikas Khanna, owner of the brand, said, "We have tied up with Lifestyle and Central, who will stock our apparel range. We are also in talks with Brand Factory, and if everything goes well, we will soon be seen in other leading retail outlets in the country."
Speaking about the brand, Khanna said, "We source products from designers based in Italy and some other European countries. Our brand has been getting a good response at the expo and we feel that we are going to be at par with other leading brands in the category.
Discussing about their target consumers, Khanna said, "We are primarily targeting the upper middle-class and have priced our collections at Rs 750 and onwards.”
Speaking about the competition in the market, Khanna said that India still has a lot of scope in this niche category, as there are only a handful of brands in the country. According to Khanna, joining hands with more established retailers can help kidswear brands emerge more forcefully.
– Taurus to open standalone outlets

Taurus, the Delhi-based traditional womenswear brand, has planned to open its exclusive outlets and is looking for retail space across the country.

Speaking to Indiaretailing on the sidelines of Pure and Play, Dhruv Gupta, the owner of the brand, said, "We have finalised a couple of spaces in the NCR and are looking for several other options." We have planned to open an outlet in New Delhi and another in Gurgaon, by January 2009. These will be our flagship stores in the country."
At present, the brand retails through its shop-in-shops at Big Jo's, Ritu Wears, Gyans, Moksha, Neeru's and Mebaz. The brand has its presence in Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Chandigarh and Chennai, among others.
Speaking about this niche segment, Gupta said that there is a huge opportunity in this sector and the market can be tapped very easily. "But, for that, we require a more dedicated workforce to help us," said Gupta.
– W targeting 100 new outlets
Womenswear brand W is planning to open 100 new stores in the next three years. TCNS Cloting, the company behind the brand, will invest about Rs 60 crore for these expansions.
"We are planning to open 100 new stores in the next three years. Each of these stores will be opened with an average investment of Rs 60 lakh," TCNS Clothing Pvt. Ltd CEO Vijay Mishra said on the sidelines of Pure and Play. "We will also increase the size of our outlets by up to 1,500 square feet," he added.
TCNS is also looking to foray into jewellery and other fashion accessories segment, and is presently talking to various players. 
– Titan aiming to be a billion-dollar company
Backed by major expansion plans for its jewellery, watches and eyewear divisions in India, Titan Industries is aiming to become a billion-dollar company by the end of this fiscal year. Besides, the company is also planning to enter the US market with the Tanishq brand of jewellery by next month.
"Last year we had turnover of Rs 3,000 crore, and this fiscal we are looking at crossing the Rs 4,000-crore mark. By then, we would have become a billion-dollar company," V Govind Raj, vice-president, retail and marketing, Titan Industries, told media on the sidelines of Pure and Play.
Sharing expansion plans for this fiscal, he said that about 40 new Tanishq jewellery stores will be opened. "In the watches segment, we are increasing the number to 300 stores from the existing 240, while in the eyewear segment we are increasing the number of stores to 60 by the end of this fiscal, from the present 20," Raj said.

Pure and Play: News on the sidelines

– Triumph to launch Hom and Valisere brands
Triumph has planned to introduce its high-end labels – Hom and Valisere – by end of this year, in India.
Speaking to Indiaretailing, Thorsten Allenstein, country head, Triumph, said, "The demand for our products in India has been growing, hence we are planning to launch two of our high-end brands in the country very soon."
Sharing plans about the expansion of Triumph stores in India, Allenstein said, "We have planned to open around 100 Triumph stores by next year." The company has already identified locations, and each store will be spread across 800 to 1,000 square feet.
Besides, the company is planning to partner other multi-brand retailers and is in talks with many companies. "We have spoken to many retailers to stock our products and are going to finalise our partner by end of this week," informed Allenstein.
– Around 70 new outlets from Vishal; loyalty card for women
Vishal Retail said it would open 70 more stores at a cost of around Rs 700 crore by the end of this year, taking the total number to 190, while playing down the chances of high inflation dampening its expansion plans.
"Inflation has made no impact on our growth plan. We are going to open 70 more stores by the end of the current year, and will invest Rs 700 crore for the purpose," Vishal Retail Chairman Ram Chandra Agarwal told reporters on the sidelines of Pure and Play.
The company is also looking to raise Rs 200 crore through a private equity investment for the expansion plans, while the remaining fund will be arranged through debt. "In order to fund our expansion plans, we are looking at a debt equity ratio of 2:1," Agarwal said. Vishal Retail is also planning to launch loyalty cards to attract customers, particularly women, besides introducing new brands in the womenswear category.

– Niknish to add 50 stores
Kolkata-based Niknish Retail plans to increase the number of its outlets to 65, from the present 15.
"In the next 18 months we plan to increase the number of stores to 65," Niknish Retail Vice-President Thomas Yasuda said on the sidelines of Pure and Play.

The company will operate through two major formats: the large ones, with an area of 10,000 square feet and above, and the smaller ones with an area of around 2,000 square feet.

– Proposed Rs 350 crore investment from Globus
Globus will invest Rs 350 crore for opening 74 new stores in the next 30 months, across India.
"Seeing the growth in the organised retail industry, we have planned to increase the number of outlets to 100 from the current 26 stores, in the next two-and-a-half years. This can entail an investment up to Rs 350 crore," Globus President Subhash Chhabra said on the sidelines of Pure and Play.
The entire investment will be funded through internal accruals, he added. To start with, Chhabra said, the company will add 15 stores in the current fiscal in tier I and II cities, including Nagpur, Kochi, Rajkot and Surat. All stores will be company-managed and open in shopping malls.

Thirty million cases of shoplifting go undiscovered: EHI study 18 Jun, 2008

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Thirty million cases of shoplifting go undiscovered: EHI study

18 Jun, 2008

Inventory discrepancies in the German retail sector as a whole add up to four billion euros annually, EHI observes in its current survey. Dishonest customers account for slightly less than 1.9 billion euros of the amount; retailers' employees are blamed for losses of around one billion euros. Statistically, each year each German household continues to steal goods valued at over 50 euros from retailers. To visualise, this means that about every 200th shopping trolley passes the checkout without being paid for. The state loses around 400 million euros in VAT revenues annually as a result.
Protecting merchandise costs dearly
To reduce so-called inventory losses, annually the retail industry invests an average of almost 0.3 per cent of its sales revenues, or around one billion euros. The cost of inventory discrepancies and their avoidance thus amounts to about five billion euros annually, which retailers have to include in their selling prices, like all other costs. Retailers continue to estimate the general crime threat as medium to high, with a rising tendency because companies anticipate an increase in crime in almost all areas next year.
‘Organised’ shoplifting is considered the biggest problem by chain store operators. In general, however, ‘ordinary’ customer theft is still the main problem. The further intensification of preventive measures will, therefore, be necessary.
No easing in sight
According to the official crime statistics of the German police for 2007, the number of cases of simple shoplifting reported to the authorities declined another 6.6 per cent from 428,553 to now 400,183. But retail's assessment of the current crime situation and the unchanged, high level of inventory losses indicate that there has been no easing of the situation on the shoplifting and theft front. Longer business hours, reduced staffing, reduced presence of detectives during retail opening hours are conducive to undiscovered shoplifting. An estimated 30 million cases of shoplifting involving goods worth an average 60 euros go undetected and unreported every year. Comparing 2007 with 2006, the inventory discrepancies in German retailing as a whole, averaging all sectors, remained on a constant level. An average inventory discrepancy of easily one per cent -- valued at selling prices and placed in relation to gross sales -- continues to reduce profit margins in retailing significantly.
Efficient theft prevention
The current offence rates substantiate the importance and necessity of the use of detectives and camera surveillance in the retail sector. At companies which employ detectives, even if only at selected outlets or only on a part-time basis, 71 per cent of all customer offences exposed are detected and reported by detectives. Although most companies do not have cameras throughout their stores, slightly less than 40 per cent of the offences discovered are discovered with the help of camera systems and image recording.
Taking part in the latest EHI study on the topic of inventory discrepancies were 122 companies with more than 12,000 outlets in all, representing estimated total sales of around 47 billion euros. The study was supported by HDE, the German Central Retail Association.

A Model to Turn a New Leaf in Indian Retailing - 3

India is one of the fastest growing economies in the world today. The country’s luxury market is the 12th largest in the world. The country’s retail sector must orient itself to meet the needs of this new mass-affluent market.
India can follow Emaar’s model of aligning mall developments with the emerging lifestyle communities. There are several master-planned communities being developed across the towns and cities of India, and these demand world-class shopping and leisure options for the residents.
Diversification in shopping malls is as important as diversification in the product industry. The Dubai Mall has redefined the horizons of shopping malls by navigating away from the traditional outlook towards shopping. In due time, this approach will be the true benchmark for the global retailing industry. India can take the lesson early.

A Model to Turn a New Leaf in Indian Retailing

In this scenario, the concept of neighbourhood retailing as promoted by Emaar Retail will become more significant. Emaar’s retail ethos is driven by one key philosophy: Deliver residents in its master-planned communities the services and products they need in a friendly ambience, and back it up with amenities such as parking and leisure choices.
There are several striking parallels between the retail sectors of India and Dubai. For one, the retail sector of Dubai was predominantly led by Indian traders – an association that goes back to several centuries. The evolution of Dubai’s retail sector as a truly world-class shopping destination was swift and phenomenal, and in this growth, shopping malls have played a key role.
Dubai’s shopping malls have removed the dichotomy of shopping and leisure, and created a perfect blend of retail and entertainment that appealed to families – both residents and visitors. The integrated lifestyle approach that drives the development of The Dubai Mall, the flagship development by Emaar Malls Group, can also serve as a referral point for India’s retail sector.
Emaar Malls Group – a subsidiary of Emaar Properties PJSC, which through a joint venture with MGF Land Development is the largest foreign direct investor in India’s real estate sector – has helped transform the look and feel of shopping malls. The operational philosophy of Emaar Malls Group is to design shopping malls as vibrant retail and leisure destinations.
The Dubai Mall, for example, is redefining the shopping and leisure experience with its rich array of components including the world’s largest indoor Gold Souk; one of the world’s largest aquariums featuring 33,000 living animals; an Olympic-size ice rink; an entertainment section including the region’s first SEGA indoor theme park; and KidZania®, an 80,000 square feet children’s ‘edu-tainment’ centre.
The Gold Souk is designed to reflect the rich Arabic heritage blended with the modern features of The Dubai Mall, and will showcase a collection of over 220 of the region’s most trusted gold and jewellery retailers. At the souk, gold and jewellery can be readily purchased or tailor-crafted. The aquarium, at 51m x 20m x 11m, will feature the world’s largest viewing panel measuring 32.8m in width x 8.3m in height. With the capacity to hold 10 million litres of water, the aquarium will illuminate the marvels of the ocean floor and showcase a diverse collection of marine life worldwide.
Other entertainment components at The Dubai Mall will include KidZania® and SEGA Republic. Kidzania is an award-winning children’s ‘edu-tainment’ concept that will be introduced to the region for the first time. It will be an 80,000 square feet interactive mini-city that combines play with learning. SEGA Republic is to be an indoor theme park focused on action, adventure, and entertainment. The two-level, 76,000 square feet adventure is being developed by Emaar Malls Group in partnership with SEGA Corporation.
This integrated approach works for India, too, especially given its current socio-economic shift. The growing middle-class population with high purchasing power continues to drive the retail sector in India. For them, shopping malls are becoming destinations for leisure – places where they meet with friends and families. Indian retail sector must take a cue from The Dubai Mall and create integrated shopping destinations.

A Model to Turn a New Leaf in Indian Retailing

A metaphor close enough to describe the dynamism of the Indian retail sector would be that of the Big Bang theory. Triggered by giant collision courses involving several thousand unorganised retailers occasionally rubbing shoulders against smart supermarkets, the Indian retail sector, following the years of heating and cooling, has evolved into a strong all-encompassing mass.
Today, topping the Global Retail Development Index for the third consecutive year as the most attractive market for retail investment, India has one of the most vibrant retail sectors in the world, where huge malls and supermarket chains co-exist with below-the-line traders.
Currently, there are 12 million retail outlets in India, which is estimated to triple by 2015. The 25 per cent projected increase in retail growth illustrates the strong fundamentals of the sector, which is expected to contribute to 22 per cent of India’s GDP by 2010. The fastest growing segments in retail are, not surprisingly, wholesale cash-and-carry stores, supermarkets, and hypermarkets. Shopping malls are another growth segment, with over 100 malls in the country now and over 600 malls under construction – mostly in Mumbai, Delhi and other A1-class cities.
One of the key challenges of the Indian market is to build organised retail. Concepts like franchising are only now gaining currency, and I recall the tremendous effort that had to be put in even in the late ‘90s to build a fashion retail chain through international franchises.
The mindset of the typical Indian customer, however, has shifted over the years. Today, global brands have high visibility and awareness among urban customers, who drive the organised retail sector.
This change was relatively slow and has only hastened now with the economy gaining momentum. Reports show that the retail sector grew from US$198 billion in 2001 to US$226 billion in 2005 – a modest 14 per cent growth. However, the organised retail sector grew by 93 per cent from US$3.96 billion to US$7.68 billion in the same period, though its share of the total grew modestly from 2 per cent to 3.4 per cent.
A paradigm shift is projected for the organised retail sector, which is one of the areas where Emaar’s retail expertise will make a difference. Emaar’s approach to retailing is not limited to developing big malls – as has been proven with The Dubai Mall, one of the world’s largest shopping and entertainment destinations.
Emaar’s approach to retailing, centred on its communities, will gain more currency in India with the numbers in the consuming class increasing. The high disposable income, gained from economic growth, has pushed the total number of households in the consuming class from 26.5 million in 2001-02 to 40.8 million in 2006-07. These are the consumers, who are also the end-users of the master-planned communities and residential colonies in India.
It is estimated that in the next three years, over US$560 million will be invested in retail sector expansion in the country – resulting in 50 hypermarkets, 305 large department stores, 1,500 supermarkets and 10,000 exclusive retail showrooms. At least one-third of the multi-brand outlets are projected to be converted to exclusive outlets.