K Lifestyle plans Rs 100 cr spread

Krishna Group, a Mumbai-based Rs 400 crore textiles firm, plans to invest Rs 100 crore on expanding its retail network.

The group's retail subsidiary "" K Lifestyle "" operates three multi-brand discount stores 'Grab' in various parts of the country.

Set up a few months ago, K Lifestyle offers apparel and accessories of 40 international brands such as Nike, Adidas, Puma, Reebok, Pepe, Levi, Wrangler, Kaapa, Bossini and Mercedes with discounts ranging from 25 per cent to 60 per cent.

The company will be pumping in Rs 100 crore over the next fiscal to expand the chain of Grab stores to 50. Apart from the metropolitan cities, the stores will be set up in the secondary cities and emerging cosmopolitan towns.

K Lifestyle is the third company to enter the multi-brand discount stores segment in the domestic apparel retail market. Arvind Mills' Megamart and Future Group's Brand Factory have lined up nationwide expansion plans.

"The group is growing over 10 per cent year-on-year. Last year, we grew 15 per cent. The funding for the expansion will be through internal accruals," Krishna Group promoter Sanjay Kumar Tayal said.

According to Tayal, there is a great demand for international apparel labels in the Indian market.

"Youngsters aspire for international brands. We are sourcing products from the suppliers directly. Some of these products could be surplus stock. We are able to offer such massive discounts as we are focusing on volume business," he added.

Admitting that the company will be operating on narrow margin basis, Tayal said K Lifestyle is expected to clock Rs 15 crore revenue by the end of the present fiscal. "Next fiscal, we plan to hit the Rs 40 crore mark through the expansion," he stated.