By IANS
New Delhi : India’s diversified $66 million Bird Group Thursday ventured into the luxury marine arena by inking a pact to represent and market European luxury yacht manufacturer Cranchi in the country.
The Bird Group also announced the formation of a new company, Bird Marine, as part of its luxury retail vertical that would represent Cranchi and other leading brands in the industry.
“For nearly 40 years, we as a group have been serving the air and land markets. Bird Marine is aimed at us entering the sea space,” Bird Group executive director Gaurav Bhatia said in a statement after signing an agreement with Alessandra Cranchi, managing director of the family-owned Cantiere Nautico Cranchi SPA that been building luxury yachts since 1970.
“With increased levels of income and business prosperity, the demand for luxury brands in India is phenomenal and with a long coastline, luxury yachts have a niche that has yet to be properly tapped,” he added.
According to Bhatia, the marine segment “has tremendous potential for rapid and sustained growth and we’re keen to provide the market with the best that the world has to offer”.
The company also plans to develop a marina on India’s west coast to properly serve this market.
Cranchi was equally upbeat about the new partnership.
“We are pleased to have Bird Marine as our partner in India. Bird Group has a promising track record, an extensive network within India and access to tremendous resource,” she said.
“They also represent similar values to those reflected by our organization and we are confident of a successful and fruitful long term business relationship with Bird Marine,” Cranchi added.
The Bird Group is one of India’s largest diversified groups in the aviation, travel and IT arena. The group has a workforce of nearly 4,500, 50 fully automated offices across India and multiple collaborations with leading global business organizations.