Hosiery major Rupa & Company is planning to acquire smaller regional and national players with a turnover of up to ₹400 crore to grow its premium portfolio.

The market leader, in terms of volumes in the ₹25,000-crore hosiery segment (almost 50 per cent is unorganised), is planning to add more brands through the inorganic route to grow and compete with international brands like Jockey (from Page Industries), which is the market leader in the premium segment.

“We have never done any acquisitions but are now looking at growing inorganically in the hosiery segment. Being a listed company we can always raise more money if needed to make acquisitions of hosiery companies with a minimum turnover of ₹100 crore and going up to ₹400 crore,’’ said Vikash Agarwal, President & Brand Director.

Apart from competing with domestic hosiery brands like Lux and Dollar, Rupa’s main competitors are international brands.

Since Rupa was a mass brand, it launched the premium brands — Marcoman and Marcowoman — a decade ago to pit itself against Jockey and recently added international brands like FCUK and Fruit of the Loom as licensee brands to compete in the premium hosiery segment.

“Our ambition is to compete with international brands like Jockey, Hanes and Playboy and have a dominant position in the premium segment,’’admitted Agarwal.

Demand in Bangladesh With a turnover of ₹1,080 crore, the Kolkata-based company has also been seeking JV partners in Bangladesh to set up manufacturing since demand has been strong in the neighbouring country.

“There is huge demand for the Rupa brand in Bangladesh and since doing exports is not viable, we want to have a JV partner who can help us do both manufacturing and distribution. In fact, there are already lot of fake ‘Rupa’ brands existing in this market and we expect Bangladesh to contribute up to ₹100 crore of revenues,’’ he added.

Besides Rupa also intends taking its brands like Macroman and Macrowoman to the US and the UK through the online channels. Exports are expected to generate up to 8 per cent of its turnover in the next few years.

Brand ambassadors Focussing on high margin products like knitwear, sports and leisure wear under its brands, Rupa has been spending extensively on promoting its premium brands with different brand ambassadors.

This year it has allocated an ₹80-crore ad budget with new brand ambassadors like Ranbir Kapoor for its Marcoman brand.

According to a report by Kotak Securities, the Indian innerwear industry is estimated to grow at 13 per cent CAGR led by increasing urbanisation, unorganised to organized shift, preference towards branded products, organised retailing and premiumisation.

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