M&B Footwear to market Provogue shoes

Noida-based M&B Footwear Private Ltd has started marketing Provogue Shoes in Punjab. The company signed a deal for an exclusive licence two months ago for manufacturing and marketing Provogue shoes throughout the country.

Talking to Business Standard, company Director Inder Dev Singh Musafir said the company expected sales of 10,000-12,000 pairs from December to March and aimed selling about 100,000 pairs of Provogue shoes in the next financial year. A pair of this premium segment shoes costs between Rs 2,085 and Rs 3,485.

Musafir said Provogue was a high-end brand for fashion-conscious customers. The company will foray into Maharashtra, Karnataka, and Andhra Pradesh by February.

The company is manufacturing 3,000 pairs a day at its Baddi plant and will raise the production to 5,000 pairs by April. The company aims to manufacture 10,000 shoes per day by early 2007.

Musafir said the facility at Baddi had capacity for expansion and hence Rs 2 crore had been earmarked for investment in plant and machinery to increase output.

The investment will take place before 2007 because the sunset clause (withdrawal of tax incentives) will be applicable in the state after that.

The company has retail expansion plans and is opening eight stores in Punjab (three in Chandigarh, two each in Ludhiana and Jalandhar, and one in Amritsar).

The company is also contemplating foraying into the apparel segment under its own brand name "ID" next year