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Kolkata-based jeweller Senco Gold Ltd plans to expand with retail outlets in the northern and central parts of the country. The first such outlet was recently opened in Delhi.
The Rs 1,200-crore group is a dominant player in Kolkata with 44 outlets in West Bengal, Jharkhand, Odisha and Assam. Plans are now afoot to double the retail network in next five years.
“We are the largest player in the eastern region in terms of the number of stores. We now want to consolidate our position here and expand nationally to grow our business,” Suvankar Sen told Business Line .
The company will spend nearly two to three per cent of its turnover in branding and marketing to develop a national footprint.
Senco Gold expects 25-30 per cent growth in domestic sales this fiscal. Its 2012-13 sales was close to Rs 900 crore.
“In the past few years, gold prices have been on an upward trend. Now with prices inching down, volume of sales is likely to grow,” he said.
With a near ten per cent drop in prices, the months of April and May saw a huge rise in demand for gold jewellery. “Demand is likely to stabilise at current levels if the prices continue to remain firm at these levels,” he pointed out.
The group’s export outfit - Senco Gold Impex Ltd that exports gold jewellery primarily to Singapore and Dubai – clocked business worth Rs 300 crore last fiscal. The company aims to achieve 10-15 per cent growth in exports this fiscal. Senco Gold also plans to tap the capital market with an Initial Public Offering in the next three years.
The duty hike on gold and other measures announced by the Government and Reserve Bank of India to curtail gold imports will make raw material availability difficult for jewellers. In such a case, inventory management will be the key to tiding over the situation, Sen said.
“The price volatility might lead to sudden surge in gold demand and if a jeweller is not adequately cushioned, then he might run out of stock. We have put in an IT system in place that can closely monitor our our stock position,” he added.
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