Magazines Archives - 2007 December

Mahindra ventures into India retail sector
Story 8

INDIAN auto-equipment manufacturer Mahindra Ltd has added Mahindra Retail to its operations to capitalise onthe country’s bourgeoning retail sector.

Group executive vice-chairman Raghunath Murti has informed the local media of the group’s plan for a chain of lifestyle-products stores.

“We have been dealing with brands such as Lego, Nickelodeon and Mattel through the distribution of kids’ apparel.

Now we want to extend this to direct retailing,” said Murti, who sees it as “a natural extension of the group’s existing business”. The stores are ex- Wal-Mart stays the course with Seiyu buyout pected to be up and running within the year and there are plans to introduceprivate labels into the outlets, he let on.

The retail division will focus on the niche market for toys and apparel. In India, organised retail makes up at most 4% of the country’s US$330-billion industry.

However, it is growing at about 40% annually.

Arvind Singhal, New Delhi management consultancy Technopak’s chairman, calls Mahindra’s choice of merchandise “interesting and intelligent”, as he sees a good business opportunity in speciality stores.