Vandana, The Week September 18, 2012 There was a time when the Murjani Group was synonymous with luxury retail in India. It offered Indians a taste of luxury by bringing in iconic brands such as Gucci, Jimmy Choo, Bottega Veneta and La Perla. However, the “luxury powerhouse” exited all its joint ventures in just about two years, and has now moved to premium lifestyle brands. What went wrong? “Imbalance between franchisers and franchisees is one of the biggest challenges for luxury retail in India,” says Mohan Murjani, the group's chairman. Experts note that though margins are quite high in luxury…
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Nupur Anand, Daily News & Analysis (DNA) Mumbai, September 17, 2012 Trousers at 80% off, a pair of Reebok sneakers for 60% less, buy two shirts and get four free. Discounted apparel stores that include Cantabil, Koutons, Vishal Retail and Loot had created a buzz with such too-good-to-believe offers when they first appeared on the retail scene a few years back. The deals, available round the year, were good enough to tempt even the tight-fisted shoppers. And with inflation pushing up apparel prices, these firms were expecting a windfall and long queues before their stores. However, things haven't turned out…
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Nupur Anand, Daily News & Analysis (DNA) Mumbai, September 15, 2012 India’s retail industry, which is pegged at US$450 billion, could expand manifold with the opening up of foreign direct investment (FDI) on Friday. Currently, the so-called modern trade -- or retail chains – have only 5% share of that pie. The catch, however, is that the 51% FDI decision has been left to the state governments. That’s where implementation problems will arise, said experts. Trinamool Congress (TMC) that rules West Bengal has given a 72-hour notice to the government to change their decision. TMC, which is a key ally…
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Dinesh Narayanan, Forbes India New Delhi, September 15, 2012 A day after it raised the prices of diesel and restricted supply of subsidized LPG, the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government decided to push its political gamble further by opening up multi-brand retailing, civil aviation and the broadcast sectors. The decisions, especially the one to allow 51 per cent foreign investment in retailing, has already attracted sharp reactions from the opposition parties as well as allies such as Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress and Mulayam Singh Yadav’s Samajwadi Party. The union cabinet had first cleared the proposal last November but left it…
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Writankar Mukherjee, The Economic Times Kolkata, September 11, 2012 So what if West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee fights tooth and nail against foreign investment in retail, Kolkata has emerged a true city of joy for big retailers and fast-food chains since she came to power. Kolkata has become one of the highest revenue-grossing markets nationally for Future Group , Spencer's, KFC and Pantaloons among others over the past 12-8 months, much to the surprise of several marketers. Check this out. Spencer's Retail, Pantaloons and Future Group's Home Town have their top-selling outlets in Kolkata, and it's the top-performing market…
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