Following the acquisition of Nakshatra, the premium jewellery brand owned by the Diamond Trading Corporation, the Rs 3,500 crore Gitanjali Group is planning to strongly focus at the lifestyle segment by launching new brands in jewellery, fashion apparel and watch segments. Its subsidiary, Gitanjali Lifestyle Ltd, has recently launched ?Greggio? branded exclusive store of silverware jewellery in Delhi. Plans are on the anvil to set up at least 100 such stores in India with an area of 500 to 2,000 sq ft, Dharmesh Bothra, group chief operating officer (jewellery), Gitanjali Group told FE.
According to Bothra, ?We have entered into an exclusive distribution arrangement with Noraletto (a watch band from Italy) for selling them in the Indian market. Taking these plans forward, we will set up 25 shop-in-shops for Noraletto watches within premium retail outlets in India in the next six months. Besides, we are planning to set up Marielle Vurhani (apparel brand from Italy) shop-in-shops as well in India soon.?
Gitanjali Lifestyle has also firmed up plans to set up 3,000 sq ft of exclusive branded showroom of World of Solitaire in Delhi and Chennai, apart from other metroes. Bothra explained that Gitanjali Group is extending its business focus to jewellery from diamonds and at the same time, eyeing a bigger retail presence for diamonds as well.
Further, Bothra added that instead of metroes, now the actual big sales for diamonds and diamond jewellery has started picking up in Tier II cities such as Durgapur, Asansol, Haridwar, Jammu, Kota, Indore, Bellary, Guntur, Coimbatore, Kochi. ?Hence, our focus would be to set up more outlets in these markets, in the near future.?
Gitanjali Group has also charted out brand extension plans for Nakshatra from jewellery to now include diamond-studded shoes, handbags and accessories as well. Currently, Nakshatra is sold over 480 jewellers in India and international markets to include Middle East, United Kingdom, Singapore, Angola, GCC & Lahore. Gitanjali aims to position Nakshara as a jewellery and lifestyle band worldwide and report sales worth Rs 1,000 crore over the next five years.
