India Retail News Thread

[barrykul]

India's biggest shopping district Theagaraya Nagar in Chennai to get a retail makeover

Time to address this area in a more visionary manner. There are too many mom and pop stores, traffic is a nightmare and frankly people traffic overwhelms the small, narrow streets. Leadership is required (of the political kind), to herd in all the owners of property in the area and come to common consensus/goals. A gigantic underground parking area is required to house the increasing number of cars. A 6-lane road linking T.Nagar to A. Nagar/KK. Nagar needs to be sketched out. All public transport can have a stop within the gigantic parking area, and plan out a metro station too. Progressively move the mom/pop stores into the new mega mall complex without halting commerce/trade. Then T.Nagar area becomes a one stop shopping destination with people convenience in a sheltered A/C mall with modern shops, good people flow, public transit and car parking.

If you do this, then the trade volume can double or triple or more.

There are old shopping buildings that have become a heritage and we want to preserve that," said A Shankar

This is regressive thinking. What is the heritage to preserve. You go any where in India and the place looks a time wrap, stuck in the old times. We have enough of these buildings to be nostalgic about. Time to move on and create some new exciting architecture, perhaps vignettes of Indian themes rather that pure glass/steel.

[karkal]

India got 63 FDI applications for retail forayIn their basket of offerings, 60% will be consumer and perishable food items

Ever since FDI in retail was approved, India has so far received 63 applications from single and multi-brand retailers from around the world. In their basket of offerings, 60 per cent will be consumer and perishable food items, Union Cabinet Minister of Commerce, Industry and Textiles, Anand Sharma said in Bangalore on Friday.

Laying the foundation stories of Indian Institute of Packaging at Sompura Industrial Area, Dobaspet, Nelamangala, around 30 kms from Bangalore, he said that packaging will play a major role as India gears up for this inflow of retailing companies from across the world.

“Packaging today contributed 5.3 per cent of the GDP,” he further added “this industry vertical is growing at 15 per cent, the second fastest in world. We expect it to double to 30 per cent within a decade. Our research in secondary and tertiary packaging is even recognised by European Union, and we reached the milestone much ahead of them, thanks to work happening at professional institutes like IIP, IIT and NID.”

According to him, IIP, and all its branches will turn out to be a model global institute in research and training besides helping us keep pace with a growing economy. The Indian Institute of Packaging is an autonomous body under the Ministry of Commerce & Industry, Govt of India.

IIP presently has centres in Mumbai, Chennai, Delhi, Hyderabad and Kolkata. Bangalore will be their sixth centre. N C Saha, Director, Indian Institute of Packaging, expressed the institute’s keenness to bring a whole new offering to the students of Bangalore.

The Indian Institute of Packaging presently offers two-year PG diploma in packaging, 18 months distance education in packaging, three months intensive training course in packaging and also offers short-term residential courses available as government facilitated exchange programs with Africa, Sri Lanka among others.

[azzi282]

H&M's Competitive Advantage: Expansion in India

When we last checked in with H&M , the Swedish retailer was touting its ongoing success to implement sustainable initiatives. Given its sheer size –now at 2,853 stores and counting in 49 markets across the globe– H&M’s environmental footprint may be decreasing but the fashion chain is getting ready to break into yet another new market: India.

This could make the world’s second largest apparel retailer (Inditex ’s Zara is still number one in sales) even bigger, provided it is granted the approval of India’s Foreign Investment Promotion Board to invest a planned $131 million for 50 locations. The stores would be fully owned by H&M, a decided advantage over their competitor.

The Economic Times reports that Zara’s Indian unit Inditex Trent is a joint venture between the brand’s owner Inditex with Tata Group’s retail arm Trent. Nevertheless, the company has rung up profits in two of the three years since its debut opening in Delhi and Mumbai. American outposts of Levi Strauss still haven’t turned a profit despite their presence in India for over ten years.

FULL ARTICLE

H&M to Bet $130 Million on India

Earlier this week, popular clothing store H&M announced a plan to spend around $130 million in order to bring trendy and fast forward fashion to 50 stores across India.

It's not the first time a trendy store similar to H&M has considered expanding across India. Some may say that they are last to take the plunge, considering shops such as Zara, Mango and Forever 21 have all marked their territories in India.

FULL ARTICLE