Provogue plans 6 stores at Rs 60 crore

Provogue India is planning to grow bigger by setting up lifestyle stores spread over 60,000 sq ft with an estimated investment of Rs 60 crore in the next one year.

Sources in the industry informed that Prozone, wholly owned subsidiary of Provogue, plans to set up six stores in one year.

"Although the company is yet to finalise the locations, such large format departmental stores will initially be set up in Ahmedabad and Pune," sources further said.

The size of existing megastores of Prozone and Provogue is about 5,000-15,000 sq ft, sources said. The lifestyle malls will be owned and operated by Prozone.

The firm plans to open such stores at an estimated investment of Rs 10 crore per lifestyle store, sources informed. It is in talks for a property at Law Garden in Ahmedabad and will soon sign the deal, according to sources close to the development.

Nikhil Chaturvedi, managing director of Prozone, declined to comment on the issue. "It's too early to comment," Chaturvedi further said. The company aims to open 30 retail stores taking its total to 100.

The investment on a Prozone megastore, spread over 6,000-8,000 sq ft, will be about Rs 1 crore per store while on a smaller store it'll be Rs 45-50 lakh per store, Chaturvedi said. The Provogue megastores, spread over 10,000 sq ft will be opened in Vashi, Chandigarh and Hyderabad in the next one year.

"We are also in the process of getting licences of a few international brands. Each international brand requires an investment of about Rs 30 crore," he said.

Prozone Enterprises is currently developing more than 12 million sq ft of modern retail space in India, primarily in Tier II cities such as Thane, Raipur, Jaipur, Indore, Mysore and Aurangabad.

Prozone recently opened its first mall in Rajkot which it has jointly developed with J P Infrastructure of the Iscon Group of Companies. The mall is spread over 1,50,000 sq ft and is operated by Prozone. The tenant mix of Iscon-Prozone mall comprises of Pantaloon department store and Big Bazaar hypermarket.

Prozone is scouting for land to set up two more malls on these lines, one in Surat and one more in Rajkot.

In March 2006, Provogue's turnover stood at Rs 165 crore and the profit after tax was Rs 12 crore. The company expects a projected 25 per cent growth for March '07.