IndiaRetailBiz

Madura Garments, a part of the over Rs. 100,000 crore aluminium to textliles Aditya Birla group, which owns Louis Phillippe, Van Heusen, Allen Solly and Peter England menswear apparel brands in premium and value segments, recently opened “Peter England People” to sell clothes of popular value brand in suburban Mumbai, is among its largest stores that is occupying 15,000 sq ft in retail space.

Though originally engaged in manufacturing and marketing of garments, Madura Garments in recent years has made aggressive moves to make its presence felt in retailing as well. This, according to a Business Standard report, is evident from the fact that, while in the past three years, the group has increased share of garment retail through direct channels (company owned/ company operated stores) from 10% to 40%, it is well on its way to increase the same further to between 70 and 80% in the next three years.

“It’s a move from being a wholesale garment manufacturer to a retail-led company.The disintermediation is happening in order to interface directly with the consumer,” says Kumar Mangalam Birla, Chairman of the group.

Vikram Rao, business director, textiles and apparel, Aditya Birla Group considers presence in retail as key to its future growth. He says, “Being present in the retail space is the only way to grow.”

The branded apparel division of the group crossed an important milestone of Rs. 1,000 in turnover when in FY2007-08 it registered a turnover of Rs 1,025 crore. This was 24% higher than the previous year. And, Madura Garments, which alrady has a fomidable name and presence in the sector, will be there to claim its rightful share in the burgeoning pie.

Organised apparel retail sales in India are currently estimated at Rs 49,000 crore. The segment is expected to explode in the coming five years with an increase of over 160%. By 2013, the sales are expected to reach an astounding Rs 130,000 crore (around US$ 33 billion).

Interestingly, Kumar Mangalam Birla-led Aditya Birla group, through its wholly owned subsidiary Aditya Birla Retail (ABR), is also very active in ‘pure’ retail play as well. It is currently operating supermarket and hypermarket chains under the umbrella brand name of ‘More.’ In the last one year, it has launched over 500 food & grocery supermarket and two hypermarket stores. These stores also include 177 supermarket stores of the South-based retail chain Trinethra, which it acquired from its founder Anjaneyulu Kakkera in 2006.