Nikhil Meswani’s first tryst with fashion has been through chairmanship of the India Fashion Forum.
The appointment of the 44-year-old chemical engineer — who prefers to dress only in blacks and whites on most days of the year — as the chairman of the India Fashion Forum (IFF), surprised many.
Meswani will head IFF for the next two years. IFF will hold a global fashion retail business summit later this month which will include participants like Reliance Retail, Future Group, Arvind Mills, Gitanjali Group, Hidesign, Bata, Mahindra retail, Tommy Hilfiger, Aditya Birla Retail, ITC, SKNL, Reebok, Adidas, Puma, Fila, Nike, Lotto, Biba, Estee Lauder and L’Oreal, among others.
IFF officials say Meswani’s experience at RIL will come in handy for the young entrepreneurs and retailers associated with the forum.
Organised retail is expected to grow to 14-18 per cent of the total retail market, from 7 per cent at present, and reach $450 billion by 2015.
“A big name like RIL and an experienced executive like Meswani will be an inspiration for young retailers,” said an IFF member.
RIL is present in businesses ranging from polyester to petrochemicals to the retail sector. Reliance Trends is the fashion apparel and accessories specialty concept of Reliance Retail.
Nikhil Meswani, son of Rasiklal Meswani, one of the founder directors of RIL, joined RIL in 1986 and has been on the board of the company since July 1988.
Credited with contributing to RIL becoming a global leader in petrochemicals, he is also a director of Reliance Commercial Dealers and chairman of the audit committee.
