Leading jewellery manufacturer and distributor Kalyan Jewellers will invest Rs 800 crore in the next fiscal on retail expansion to take its store strength to 100.
The expansion will commence with the company’s foray into the Chennai market where it is investing nearly Rs 200 crore for its first, flagship showroom. This is the largest investment by any jeweller in a single showroom across the country, Rajesh Kalyanaraman, Executive Director, said on Wednesday.
The Kerala-based company is also evaluating the prospects of entering major south Asian markets like Singapore, Malaysia and Sri Lanka.
Kalyan Jewellers has been expanding its distribution network after the recent equity infusion of Rs 1,200 crore ($200 million) by global private equity investor Warburg Pincus which picked up a minority stake. “We are investing Rs 800 crore in the next fiscal to open 22 showrooms in India and West Asia. We are targeting 30 per cent growth in topline to Rs 13,000 crore and enhancing the distribution network by 30% in the year.”
The company is also in the process of converting its 570 çustomer service centres into mini ‘’My Kalyan’’ stores which will focus on selling affordable diamonds to capitalise on the potential of this category. “We are also ramping up our manufacturing operations and plan to have India’s biggest production house by 2017,” said Kalyanaraman.
Currently, Kalyan has presence across South India, Maharashtra, Gujarat, National Capital Region (NCR) and Punjab, and has a network of 65 exclusive showrooms in India and 12 in West Asia — including nine in the United Arab Emirates and three in Kuwait. It has identified Chennai, Kolkata and Bhubaneswar as the new markets for expansion in India in this financial year.
The company is launching in Qatar with six showrooms. Kalyan is also consolidating its existing presence in the NCR, Maharashtra, Gujarat and Kerala by opening showrooms in Gurgaon, Noida, Pune, Mumbai and Kodungallor, he said.
The bespoke showroom is spread across 40,000 sq. feet and will display 600 kg of jewellery. It will offer a wide variety of more than 500,000 contemporary and traditional designs and also a designated children’s play area inside the showroom to create a comfortable shopping environment for families.