Retail News India,Franchise In India,Franchise News India,Denim and casual wear firm Pepe Jeans India has filed an application with the Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion for setting up fully-owned retail stores in the country. The Spain-headquartered company plans to open large format family stores in metros across India, people familiar with its plans told ET. It is currently operating through a joint venture in the wholesale segment.

The company wants to take advantage of the liberalised policies that allow foreign single-brand retailers to sell through their own stores as well as franchisee outlets, besides allowing firms selling through bricks-and-mortar stores to sell through their own online portals.

Pepe Jeans India filed the application on the DIPP website on January 6. It believes its plan will help it push its omni-channel retail strategy, said one of the people, who did not wish to be identified.

Last year, it had said that it was looking to double its sales in India to nearly Rs 1,500 crore in the next three years. It also forayed into new categories of products such as kids wear and footwear, along with expanding the number of stores.

The company plans to increase the number of its stores to 450 across metros, tier-II and tier-III cities from 200 franchise stores at present. India’s denim market is projected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 15% and reach Rs 27,200 crore by 2018, according to a report by Technopak.

In January 2012, India had allowed foreign single-brand retailers to run wholly-owned subsidiaries in India. But foreign companies investing through this route were allowed to operate only through their own stores and couldn’t engage in franchisee and wholesale trading. Therefore, investment proposals of several firms got held up.

These included plans of American apparel maker Tommy Hilfiger, Italian bag and shoe maker Furla, crystal jewellery and accessories maker Swarovski and cosmetics companies Innisfree of South Korea and Officina Farmaceutica of Italy.



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