Gold retailer plans Rs 2,000 crore expansion

On how the expansion will be funded, company’s Chairman M P Ahammed said 75 per cent will be debt from banks and the remaining Rs 500 crore will be internal accruals.

The Kozhikode-based company is the second largest jewellery retailer in the country with 85 showrooms, behind Tata’s Tanishq, and has 97 stores abroad. “Of the 80 stores planned this year, 40 will come up in the Gulf markets, and 10 in other markets like Sri Lanka, Hong Kong and Singapore. Lanka will be first new overseas market. In the domestic market, we will open 30 more stores,” said Ahammed.

The group, which is also into real estate, has clocked Rs 26,000 crore in revenue in fiscal 2017, up from Rs 21,000 crore, a year ago. Of this, Rs 1,000 crore came in from realty business, into which it has drawn up plans to invest Rs 10,000 crore over the next few years, Ahammed said, adding the company’s first mall, touted as the largest in Kerala, will come up in Thiruvananthapuram shortly.

On non-jewellery expansion plans, he said the company will be opening its electronics retail outlets in Kochi and the state capital by Onam. For the proposed expansion, it will be hiring over 1,000 professionals, including 400 in the GCC markets and 600 in the country, taking its total head count to over 10,000 by the year-end.

He expects jewellery sales to clip at 10-20 per cent this year on the back of lower taxes under GST. In Kerala, which is its mainstay in the domestic market, he said taxes will come down by almost 2  to 3 per cent under GST, which should boost sales. 

Exports Slide

 From a single digit export figure, the last decade has seen the growth and slide of umbrella exports

 The quantum jump to the three-figure high was achieved in 2015-16, when the milestone export mark was possible

Highest export figure in 2015-16

152.93 Crore