By Shweta Thakur, IANS
New Delhi : The Rose Group, a leading Indian purveyor of luxury jewellery and watches, is set to pump in Rs.6.59 billion to open 58 exclusive stores and sell at 350 more outlets across the country by the end of 2010.
“By end 2008 we plan to open 15 more exclusive outlets of accessible jewellery and 41 Watches and More (WAM) fashion accessory stores. The initial investment would be about Rs.15 million on each outlet,” Biren Vaidya, managing director of the company, told IANS.
“Apart from the above exclusive stores, we are going to open 350 more points of sale. Currently we have 350 points of sale and the new plan will take it to 700 such selling points by 2010,” said Vaidya.
The firm, which at present has one outlet of Plush in the capital, plans to open at least three outlets each in Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata, and one store in Bangalore.
Each metropolitan city will get at least five outlets of WAM while tier two cities like Lucknow, Chandigarh, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Cochin and Ludhiana will get at least one outlet each. Currently, the company has nine WAM stores.
“Two more high-end jewellery and accessories lounges well known as Rose Salons will mark their presence in Delhi and Bangalore by the end of next year. Each salon will have an initial investment of over Rs.250 million. The total invest by the end of three years will be Rs.6.59 billion,” he said.
While all the products in the salons are designed and manufactured in India, the Rose Group also markets and distributes over 33 leading international brands like Versace, Pierre Cardin, Audemars Piguet, Mont Blanc, Corum and Tag Heur across 45 cities.
“We have built up a reputation of successfully establishing every brand we have launched in India. This makes us the preferred partner for global lifestyle brands entering India,” he said.
He said the company would expect returns three years after launching the new points of sale and exclusive stores.
Vaidya said: “The accessory market of India is so huge that it can’t be estimated. However, I think the watch market in India surely estimated at over Rs.20 billion.”
Growing fashion consciousness among people and over 400-upcoming malls, Vaidya said, would boost the Indian accessories market.