Pioneering the concept of a retail fund in the Indian jewellery industry, the Rs 2,000 crore Gitanjali Gems Ltd has launched Infinity with a corpus of Rs 50 crore.
MUMBAI: Pioneering the concept of a retail fund in the Indian jewellery industry, the Rs 2,000 crore Gitanjali Gems Ltd has launched Infinity with a corpus of Rs 50 crore.
To be operated through its division Gitanjali Retail Venture (GRV), the fund will seek to form joint ventures with multi-unit franchisees (those having three and above jewellery stores) and finance up to 50% of their franchisees’ total inventory requirements in addition to managing these outlets.
Speaking to DNA Money, Mehul Choksi, chairman of Gitanjali Group, said the corpus of Rs 50 crore is for the first year of operations of Infinity and would double in the second year, and rise further in the subsequent years. Funding for this retail fund will be through internal accruals.
According to him, organised retail is just 3% of the 12 million outlets retail market in India and organised jewellery retailing is just a fraction of the total organised retail. The bulk of jewellery retailing, worth about Rs 1 lakh crore, still happens through traditional jewellers.
“This initiative is aimed at bringing global best practices and helping the 3 lakh jewellery retail outlets in the country instil confidence in the consumer,” said Choksi.
In a bid to offset the reduction in margins through higher volume, GRV will increase its retail footprint across the country through four new retail formats. In consultation with Franchise India and Retail India, GRV will now expand through Giantti (multi-brand lifestyle boutique for jewellery, watches and accessories), Gitanjali Signature (up-market multi-brand outlets for premium jewellery), Gitanjali Exclusive and independent brand outlets for its various brands.
“In the first year, we are looking at 150 stores. The overall target is to achieve 1,000 stores in the next three years,” said Choksi.
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