13 April 2022, Mumbai:

All-time low infection rates, withdrawal of sanctions, and improvement in consumer mobility helped boost retailers’ sales to the highest levels of 28 percent in March, indicates a pan-India study by the Retailers Association of India.

The study revealed, that the West region grew the fastest at 37 percent last month compared to a year back; followed by the North at 28 percent, East at 26 percent, and South at 21 percent.

ALSO READ January retail sales restricted to 91 per cent of pre-pandemic levels: RAI

Kumar Rajagopalan, the CEO, of RAI, says, the removal of pandemic-related restrictions gave a boost to the growth of retail businesses across regions and categories including garments and footwear.

However, inbuilt inflation in products like garments, electronics, and FMCG products impacted the performance of the sector.

RELATED NEWS Retailers across India on an expansion drive as sales surpass pre-COVID levels

The report shows that the consumer durables, and electronics segment grew 45 percent in March over last year, while categories like furniture, furnishing, food, and grocery grew by 28 percent. Sports goods and apparel categories grew 26 percent each.

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06 April 2022, Mumbai:

SBI Cards Warns About "Big Bazaar Vouchers".

ALSO READ Big Bazaar launches innovative Big Bazaar launches 'Big Savings Sale' for festive season

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CREDITS: TOI Dt 06-04-2021 (The news article has not been edited by DFU publications staff).

13 April 2022, Mumbai:

Japanese casualwear fashion brand Uniqlo plans to launch a new collection ‘Final Fantasy’ in collaboration with Square Enix. The collection features T-shirts in sixteen designs-one for each entry in the Final Fantasy series.

It will be exported to other countries where Uniqlo operates stores.

ALSO READ 'Uniqlo India' sales jump 

Uniqlo produces an amazing number of unique products as its business model unifies the entire clothes-making process--from planning and design through production, distribution, and retail. The brand develops radical new materials together with the world's best fabric technology innovators and creates basic designs using superior natural materials.

Uniqlo LifeWear is high-quality, innovative clothing that is universal in design and comfort.

The brand leverages today's increasingly digital world to communicate directly with customers and quickly transform their desires into actual products.

RELATED NEWS Uniqlo India reduces their losses 

Uniqlo Japan had 810 stores including 30 franchise stores as of the end of August 2021.

Uniqlo International expanded to 1,502 stores, including 932 stores in the Greater China region, 134 in South Korea, 270 in South Asia, Southeast Asia & Oceania, 109 in Europe, and 57 in North America.

The brand has been accelerating new store openings, primarily in the Greater China region and Southeast Asia.

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11 April 2022, Mumbai:

Realty major DLF plans to construct two new shopping malls in Gurugram and Goa, as it sees huge growth potential in organized retail with the opening up of the economy.

Sriram Khattar, Managing Director, DLF Rental Business, the company will develop two new shopping malls, including ‘Mall of India’ Gurgaon and four neighborhood shopping centres.

ALSO READ DLF Mall of India adds 20 new brands in its Mall

At present, DLF has a retail footprint of 42 lakh square feet comprising eight properties, including malls and shopping centres, mainly across Delhi-NCR.

DLF will invest around Rs300-350 crore over the next two years.

RELATED NEWS DLF Mall of India launches two-week 'Wedding Shopping Festival'

It is also in the advanced stage of planning for the ‘Mall of India’ Gurgaon comprising 2.5 million (25 lakh) square feet area,

The construction is expected to start by the end of this year. The project cost of ‘Mall of India’ Gurgaon would be around Rs 1,500-1,600 crore, excluding land costs.

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05 April 2022, Mumbai:

Mounting dues of $634 million compelled it to take over debt-laden Future Retail’s stores, says Reliance Retail, India’s top retailer.

Through this takeover, the company aims to dominate the $900-billion retail sector that set off a bitter dispute in which India's Supreme Court will decide whether Reliance or Amazon Inc gets to scoop up Future's assets.

ALSO READ 'Reliance Retail' contributes to 1/4th of Future Consumer’s sales

Over months, Reliance has taken over the leases of more than 900 of Future's 1,500 stores, while still allowing the company to run them.

As Future proved unable to pay outstanding dues and losses in its retail operations swelled, Reliance decided to exercise its legal right to take over the stores, the letter added.

RELATED NEWS Future Retail asks court to declare arbitration with Amazon illegal

Earlier, the company had proposed a $3.4-billion deal to buy Future's retail, wholesale and logistics operations, as well as some other businesses.

But following Reliance's abrupt takeover of its stores, Future sought several assurances in a March 2 letter, asking if Reliance would stick to the deal without changing its value or terms.

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11 April 2022, Mumbai:

Leasing across high streets and malls in India is expected to soar past the pre-Covid levels this year, according to real estate investment firm CBRE, which said the country could see a 25% jump in new store openings in 2022.

ALSO READ CRISIL Ratings: 'Offline Apparel Retailers' expected to witness growth trajectory this year

25% jump likely in new store openings even as the share of e-comm to total sales doubled every quarter since the beginning of Covid.

March has seen a sharp recovery, with most companies being able to surpass the pre-Covid levels owing to strong demand.

RELATED NEWS Indian e-commerce retail industry value to reach $111.4 bn through 2025: GlobalData

In its report 'Real Estate Market Outlook 2022 India', CBRE South Asia Pvt. Ltd. said retailers are expected to lease over 5.1 million sq ft of space in 2022, coming close to the previous two years' combined figures of 5.9 mn sq ft.

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CREDITS: ET Dt 11-04-2022 (The news article has not been edited by DFU Publications staff)

05 April 2022, Mumbai:

The Tata super app, due to be launched on April 7, will bring about a potential 10 fold increase in the number of customers for Westside, which is the group's retail store chain, Tata Trusts director Noel Tata has said.

ALSO READ Reliance Retail, Westside, Max all active retailers look at expansion as 2nd wave ebbs

Tata, 65, who is also the chairman of retail arm Trent and who recently became vice-chairman of Tata Steel, said inflationary challenges were real and the retail unit was diversifying its supply chain to offset rising prices.

RELATED NEWS 'Westside' opens new showroom in Pune

"Westside (the brand name for Trent stores) currently has 7 mn loyalty members, whereas the Tata Super App expects to connect Westside to a base of 70 mn Tata customers," said Tata.

IPL sponsorship, and the launch of the Tata super app is likely to create online buzz.

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CREDITS: ET DT 05-04-2022 (The news article has not been edited by DFU Publications staff)

12 April 2022, Mumbai:

Shoppers Stop sold a 19.50 percent stake in Crossword on Friday, April 08, 2022, reducing its stake in the company to 29.50 percent On August 31, 2021, the board approved the sale of 100 percent equity shares held by Shoppers Stop in Crossword Bookstores (Crossword) to Dinesh Gupta, Aakash Gupta & Family (owners of Agarwal Business House) (ASH), Pune.

On October 11, 2021, Shoppers Stop sold a 51 percent stake of the company in Crossword that ceased to be a subsidiary of the company.

ALSO READ Shoppers Stop to open new department stores

In continuation to the same, Shoppers Stop plans to sell its entire 100 percent equity shares held in Crossword.

In Q3 FY21, Shoppers Stop reported a consolidated net profit of Rs 77.32 crore against a net loss of Rs 25.11 crore in Q3 December 2020. On a consolidated basis, net sales rose by 33.82 percent to Rs 958.11 crore over Q3 December 2020.

RELATED NEWS Shoppers Stop posts net profit in Q3 FY22

Shoppers Stop is an Indian department store chain, owned by the K Raheja Corp.

There are 86 stores across 40 cities in India, with clothing, accessories, handbags, shoes, jewellery, fragrances, cosmetics, health and beauty products, home furnishing, and decor products.

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07 April 2022, Mumbai:

Supreme Court ends Delhi High Court's stay on proceedings.

The Supreme Court on Wednesday asked the Singapore International Arbitration Centre (SIAC) to resume proceedings in the dispute between Amazon and Future Retail Ltd (FRL) over the Indian company's plan to sell its retail assets to a unit of Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL).

ALSO READ Amazon challenges Delhi High Court’s order in Supreme Court

The SIAC proceedings had been put on hold by the Delhi High Court three months ago.

RELATED NEWS Delhi High Court reschedules hearings on Future, Amazon appeals

The three-member bench, comprising chief justice NV Ramana and justices Krishna Murari and Hima Kohli, was hearing Amazon's petition against the high court order and was informed that both sides had agreed to the resumption.

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CREDITS: ET Dt 07-04-2022 (The news article has not been edited by DFU publications staff).

05 April 2022, Mumbai:

Dubai-UAE - Landmark Group – the UAE-based conglomerate with more than 2,200 outlets and 42,000 employees in Middle East, India and South East Asia – announced today the signing of its first sustainability-linked loan amid a pledge to transition towards sustainable finance for the majority of its operations.

This marks the first time a private sector company in the UAE signs a bilateral sustainability-linked loan.

Landmark Group also signed up to Standard Chartered’s Sustainable Account proposition, integrating sustainability into to its banking operations. Deposits in Sustainable Accounts are referenced against sustainable projects funded by Standard Chartered across its dynamic Market footprint.

ALSO READ The India Pavilion at Expo 2020 in Dubai honours Indian enterprises and entrepreneurs

These projects, aligned to the Bank’s Green and Sustainable Product Framework, address some of the world’s biggest long-term threats, including climate change and financial exclusion.

In a meeting between Landmark Group’s Chairwoman and CEO Renuka Jagtiani and Standard Chartered Bank , Group CEO Bill Winters, the company made a commitment to convert all its treasury products with the bank to sustainable wherever possible.

In a first for the region, Landmark Group has committed that the benefits from any sustainable financing will be deployed towards further sustainable initiatives.

RELATED NEWS Indian designers eye Dubai as the city transforms into global fashion hub

Commenting on the agreement, Rajesh Garg, Group Chief Financial Officer at Landmark Group, said: “At Landmark Group, we are committed to conducting our business responsibly, to make positive changes within the organisation to reduce the environmental impact of our operations. Today’s announcement of our first sustainability-linked loan, and our pledge to move towards green finance products wherever possible, is the latest demonstration of our wider commitment to people and planet.”

“We are proud to partner with Standard Chartered Bank, who share our ethos towards a green commitment.

With this partnership we are glad to become a part of a global group of sustainable companies and stakeholders that take shared responsibility for achieving a better world.” Rola Abu Manneh, Chief Executive Officer, Standard Chartered, UAE, added: “We have been partnering with Landmark Group in the Middle East and Asia for almost 30 years, and moving towards sustainable financing is a natural extension of our long-standing relationship.”

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CREDITS: ZAWYA (The news article has not been edited by DFU Publications staff)