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Despite adverse market conditions, Joyalukkas Jewellery Group is going ahead with its expansion plans by opening 14 more showrooms this year. This will take the number of its outlets in the country to 54.
Chairman and Managing Director Joy Alukkas told Business Line that the gold business in India had registered a 35-40 per cent drop in the last quarter compared with corresponding period last year.
He attributed the sales slump to general economic slowdown, increase in the number of retail outlets, rise in gold price, import curbs and imposition of various forms of taxes. The south Indian market still plays a major role in gold consumption in India, he said.
However, the company is hopeful of achieving a sales turnover of Rs 12,000 crore in the current fiscal against last year’s Rs 10,000 crore, he said.
The new outlets will open in Ahmadabad and Baroda in Gujarat, Nizamabad in Andhra Pradesh, besides a few other locations.
It will also open a new showroom in Malaysia by the end of this year.
With this, the group will have now 96 showrooms in nine countries, he said, adding that the aim is to achieve 100 showrooms in 100 countries during this fiscal.
The company, which has operations in different sectors, is now venturing into the business of malls. Branded as ‘Mall of Joy’, the new business entity will start operations in five locations shortly and the first will be unveiled in Thrissur in Kerala this year.
The mall will have area of 1.5-2 lakh sq ft and will form an ‘upgraded wedding concept’ offering all marriage-related essentials under one roof.
Its retail mix will feature two anchor stores, namely, jewellery and silks. The others will range from fashion and clothing, cosmetics, watches, footwear, crockery, coffee shop, restaurant to beauty parlour, with ample parking area, he said.
The other cities where malls are coming up include Kochi, Alappuzha, Kottayam, Palakkad, Thiruvananthapuram and one in Dubai.
However, he said that the company’s plans to enter the capital markets through an IPO have been dropped due to current uncertainties in the market conditions, he said.
The company is also acquiring two more long-haul aircrafts which will be introduced this year. The first one will arrive in November which will seat 8 passengers and travel 2,000 nautical miles at a go, he said.
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