West foot forward

Kolkata's popular Khadim's footwear enters Delhi to mark the beginning of its northern foray.

The opening of a footwear showroom in Noida's plush Sector 18 market earlier this month may have been dismissed as just another entry into what could be a near-saturated market of footwear in Delhi.

But those with an eastern connection would know better "" as Khadim's, the Kolkata-based footwear retail brand, happens to be not just the market leader in West Bengal, Bihar and Orissa, but a fairly dominant player across all southern states as well.

Having come up with its first exclusive showroom in Delhi NCR (supposed to be its 216th), Khadim's is gearing up to tap the cash-rich northern market in a big way.

Known for its durability and affordability, Khadim's shoes are available across 35 cities, including Chennai, Bangalore, Ahmedabad and Baroda. But clearly Delhi did not figure in the company's expansion plans till now.

"This is going to be the major expansion initiative for the group. A new territory is always a new challenge for us," says Siddhartha Roy Burman, managing director, Khadim India Limited.

He claims that it was latent demand for Khadim's shoes that has prompted the move. After Mesco's fizzled out, Liberty was left as the only retail challenger to Bata.

Incidentally, the Noida outlet does not happen to be the company's first foray into the north. Three years ago, it had come up with seven showrooms in UP.

But the western UP market, also a procurement hub for a variety of cheap footwear sellers, didn't respond well to the eastern brand.

"So, as a strategy, the company didn't want to come here any further," admits Joydeep Basu Roy, senior brand manager.

But why now? "Today, we have emerged as No. 3 in organised footwear retailing after Bata and Liberty. Now with our retail system well in place, we can look at handling competition in the north and west head on," adds Roy.

With modern production methods, Khadim's claims to enjoy economies-of-scale and pass on the benefits to the customer by way of affordable pricing. At claimed revenues of around Rs 150 crore, the company has been growing at a robust rate of 30 per cent annually.

Khadim's, which also has real estate and retail interests in the east, plans to invest a good sum of Rs 60 crore in the footwear business this year.

Outlining the company's plan for the north, Roy claims the Noida outlet will be followed by five more over the next two months.