More Colors of Benetton in India

The Benetton group has declared a war on India, that of its colours. To grab a greater share of the growing pie of organised ready-made apparel market in India, an aggressive DCM Benetton is investing $15 million over the next three years on both back-end factory operations as well as front-end retail.

As part of the aggressive expansion strategy, the company, a joint venture between the Italy-based Benetton group and DCM, is planning to add 50 to 60 per cent more stores to the current 100 in India in the coming year, Mr Natalino Duo, managing director, told ET.

The company, which is also setting up a design team for styles specifically catering to the Indian market, expects a 20 per cent increase in revenues next year from the current Rs 80 crores.

"India's potential in the next few years is going to be immense. Conservative estimates put the branded readymade apparel market at Rs 6,500 crores, and it's growing by 15-20 per cent every year, and we intend to cash in on that," Mr Duo said.

More and more Indians, especially in the South, are adopting branded Western outfits now, which wasn't very true of when we came in about seven years ago, and this is the right time to expand aggressively, more so in the South, he said, following the launch of an exclusive store in Hyderabad today."

We expect Rs 3-5 crores annually from Hyderabad alone, and 25 per cent of revenues to come from South India," Mr Duo told ET, adding the company, which has recently opened a store in Kochi and Calicut, is setting up two stores in Bangalore, three more in Chennai, and have presence in five outlets (multi-brand and exclusive) in Hyderabad.

Though the company has no immediate plans to set up a manufacturing unit in South, the South has a high potential and makes good business sense due to its vicinity to the material -- mainly cotton, at Thirupur for knitted fabrics and Coimbatore for woven textiles, he added.