One cannot take the Nalli out of Lavanya Nalli. She may not be overseeing the daily operations of the south Indian retail icon, but her heart still beats for the brand she grew up with. The granddaughter of Nalli Chairman Kuppuswami Chetti was the President of Nalli Silks till last year, before she began her stint at McKinsey in the US after marriage.

“I hope to come back to Nalli within two years,” says the 27-year-old, in Chennai now for a short break. The scion of the Nalli family spoke to Business Line on how the medium-sized retailer intends to grow into a large firm. Nalli entered jewellery retailing late last year (this business is headed by her brother Niranth). The brand also sees a lot of potential in home furnishing. In fact, Lavanya is supporting a team of management students from Harvard Business School who are here in Chennai to study Nalli’s potential in the home furnishing market. And, there is so much more to be done in sari retailing itself, she says. Excerpts from an interview.

Where is Nalli headed?

Nalli reached a critical point four years ago, where it had to move from being a mid-sized brand (the brand’s retail turnover is over Rs 700 crore) to a large firm. We have to be nimble and open to ideas from outside – so we roped in professionals from other companies into our team. We will, however, continue to give importance to our traditional practices of apprenticeship and mentoring young recruits.

We have sort of nailed the market in saris by expanding to Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad and even to tier-two cities. We are now looking to capture the lessons from running successful stores into newer stores and formats like jewellery. Having said this, we have not saturated the sari market. We will introduce innovations and changes in this through Nalli and Nalli Next.

Is there any other vertical Nalli wants to focus on?

There is huge potential in home furnishings – currently it is housed in the Nalli stores along with other products. But there is enough consumer demand and market for it to become a standalone entity. Fab India and Anokhi have been successful in this. Nalli wants to bring to the mix affordable products with a minimum threshold for quality and we have set the bar high. And the insights from the Harvard project could be valuable in this.

When do you plan to return to Nalli to take over from where you left off?

I am not involved hands on, but I will never be completely out of the brand. Nalli has given me the platform to study at Harvard Business School and work at McKinsey. So I am passionate about giving back to the brand. This is the driving force that will get me back here, hopefully within two years. I am always sad when I miss out on every milestone Nalli crosses. My brother and I intend to grow ten-fold the brand we have inherited.

Will the ‘Lavanya Nalli’ project be revived? (This was a premium brand aimed at the ‘discerning’ woman. The store in Bangalore had to be shut when Lavanya left for Harvard.)

The concept took off well. But when I left for Harvard, the project was still in its early stage and could not run on its own comfortably. But there is no reason why it cannot be revived. When I come back, I will certainly do something about it… if that’s something I want to do then.

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