As per an Economic Times report, India's antitrust body, the Competition of India(CCI) has approved oil-to-telecom giant Reliance Industries' bid to buy Future group's retail assets even though Amazon opposed the potential deal, alleging contractual violations by the latter.

The approval is a setback for US giant Amazon, which has argued that a 2019 agreement it inked with Future prevented the Indian group from selling its retail assets to certain parties, including Reliance - led by Asia's richest man, Mukesh Ambani.

Amazon has also approached the country's market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), urging it to consider the arbitration order and not approve the deal.

However, Future Retail, said the agreement in question was not with the company, but with the company's largest shareholder and the arbitration order was not valid in India. It has also taken Amazon to court in an effort to prevent it from sending letters to regulators.

Walmart-owned Flipkart is negotiating with the American clothing company Kontoor Brands to acquire the brand rights of Lee and Wrangler in India.

If the materializes, Flipkart will acquire manufacturing and distribution rights of these brands. Earlier this month, Flipkart had announced a House of Brands initiative to bring together Flipkart Fashion Originals, Myntra Fashion Brands and Myntra Brand Accelerators under one umbrella.

Reports suggest Flipkart has already bought a significant minority stake in Arvind Youth Brands that owns the Flying Machine brand. When Arvind was running Lee in India, in the late ’90s, it was the top denim brand in terms of sales.

But after VF Corp took over, it started selling Lee and Wrangler in the same stores which led to a decline in the sales of these brands.

Despite the COVID-19 disruptions, footwear major Liberty Shoes remains optimistic about its future and foresees sales picking up again during the autumn/ winter season due to its festive and marriage seasons.

As per Fashion Network, the brand’s second quarter net loss widened to Rs 2 crore ($2,68,715) against a net profit of Rs 6 crore it reported a year-ago. Revenue declined by 28 per cent to Rs 97 crore against Rs 134 crore it had posted in the corresponding period last year. Liberty Shoes’ reported a fall of Rs 650 crore in revenues for FY2020 and expects it to decline by 45 per cent this financial year due to sales disruption and altered customer demand caused by coronavirus and the pan-India lockdown.

Liberty Shoes has 400 flagship stores across India and is present in over 5,000 multi-brand outlets. It also retails from own e-commerce store and has plans of adding 50 to 100 new stores every year. However, offline expansion are deferred due to the pandemic.

Reliance Retail Ventures (RRVL) has raised Rs 47,265 crore by selling a 10.09 per cent stake valuing the company more than 4.2 lakh crore. Since September 2020, RRVL has raised billions of dollars from Silver Lake, KKR, Mubadala, Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA), GIC, TPG, General Atlantic and Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF).

The company currently operates 12,000 brick-and-mortar stores and has in May launched its e-commerce venture JioMart that seeks to marry the vast Reliance Retail network of outlets on its technological platform and plans to enrol legions of kirana outlets as last mile delivery and selling agents.

In all, Reliance Industries plans to raise about Rs 60,000-63,000 crore by selling a 15 per cent stake in Reliance Retail and has offered stakes to all the firms that had earlier this year injected capital into Jio Platforms.

Value fashion retailer V2 Retail is witnessing a gradual pickup in store operations. The retailer has narrowed its net loss to Rs 7 crore ($1 million) in the second quarter ended September 2020, as against a net loss of Rs 10 crore it reported in the corresponding period last year. Sales during the third quarter declined 44 per cent to Rs 85 crore, as against Rs 151 crore it had posted in the year-ago period. However, V2 Retail is confident of returning to profitability due to its sustained focus on customer experience, merchandise selection, strong brand recall, and omnichannel presence

Launched in 2001, V2 Retail is one of the fastest growing retail companies in India and also one of the most experienced. The company has more than 37 stores of which three are in Delhi-NCR, 14 in Bihar, 8 in Uttar Pradesh, 2 in Odisha, Uttarakhand and Assam, 1 each in Jharkhand, Karnataka, Himachal Pradesh, West Bengal, Arunachal Pradesh and Tripura. It mainly retails womenswear, menswear, and children’s wear.

Flipkart, Indian e-commerce unit of Walmart and its payment app PhonePe have recorded strong quarterly growth with ‘Big Billion Day’ sales, monthly active users (MAU) are on an all-time high for the Indian e-tailer.

Walmart’s net sales in August-October quarter increased 1.3 per cent to $29.6 billion from the year-ago quarter on account of strong growth registered by Flipkart in India, as well as from its operations in Canada and Mexico.

While it’s net sales continue to be impacted with ongoing global health crisis, total revenue increased by 5.2 per cent to $134.7 billion from the corresponding period last year. In July, Flipkart raised close to $1.2 billion from majority owner Walmart, along with a group of existing shareholders, to bolster its e-commerce operations. The investment valued the Flipkart Group at $24.9 billion in post-money valuation.

Post this round, Flipkart has been heavily doubling down on categories including fashion as well as grocery, picking up minority stakes in offline retailers including - Arvind Youth Brands for ₹260 crore, and a 7.8% stake in Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail Ltd for ₹1,500 crore.

Next year, Flipkart plans to go public as early as next year, on the back of rapid digital transformation in the country.

The e-tailer would look at an overseas listing, either in the US, where Walmart is headquartered or another country, and could be valued at $40-45 billion.

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One of India’s most acclaimed renowned designers Manish Arora known for his eponymous brand has announced bankruptcy as they have been unable to pay worker wages and its website has been shut for maintenance. The former creative director for French luxury fashion brand Paco Rabanne, Arora currently is a member of the advisory council for the International Woolmark Prize. Earlier this year, he collaborated with Amazon India to launch an affordable fashion line and also presented his latest collection at Lakme Fashion Week in the spring.

This year, Arora also parted ways with his long-time business partner Deepak Bhagwani. The global coronavirus crisis also contributed to the brand’s ongoing financial issues. The brand currently stocks its River collection with Amazon India besides retailing online on multi-brand Indian boutiques including Aza and Pernia’s Pop-Up Shop among others.

Wrangler has taken a futuristic design approach to its new Monochrome collection by blending greys, whites and blacks that have helped it create an uber-modern look.

The Monochrome collection features tees and shirts with asymmetrical designs, HD prints, reflective prints and accentuated blurred print styles. The men’s denim range feature reflective elements and pocket detailing. The collection is exclusively designed to make a statement in the day or light up the night.

With prices starting from Rs 2995/- for jeans and Rs. 995/- for top wear, the collection is available in all exclusive Wrangler stores in India.

First launched in the US, Wrangler is known for its five-pocket jeans that was test-fitted and endorsed by real-life cowboys. Since then, the brand has continued to inspire freedom, independence and adventure in its wearers.

In India, the brand has evolved to meet the needs of the ‘urban cowboy’ with a range of fashion apparel that is contemporary and fashionable yet rugged.

For the Indian apparel industry, Diwali was not a fun affair as it used to be till last year. As per Apparel Resources, around 40 to 45 per cent factories of North India didn’t give any bonus or ‘considerable’ gift to their professionals, while many factories gave almost half amount compared to last year. Already facing major challenges like less business, high costing, the apparel industry witnessed a major cost-cutting this year be it giving gifts to their staff, bonus or even celebrations at the factory/office premises.

Many companies did not give gift to their employees or workers. The mid-level staff of the export houses was impacted more by this. A few export houses managed to give bonus not only to workers but also mid-level professionals. The amount or ratio was different from company to company while many factories gave half amount to their professionals compared to what they used to get previously.

Market sentiments too were quite low this time as everyone from the raw material suppliers to job workers did not exchange gifts unlike the past years.