Tommy Hilfiger India Franchisee to Open 500 Accessories Stores in 5 Years

Murjani Group, the Indian franchisee for Tommy Hilfiger and Calvin Klein, will set up 500 Hilfiger accessories stores in the next five years as rising incomes allow people to spend more on watches, clothes and belts.

Murjani, which opened the first Hilfiger store in 2004, will also double the number of places it sells the brand’s apparel to 2,000 in five years, Chairman Mohan Murjani said by phone from Mumbai. The accessories stores will sell watches, belts, wallets and stationery.

Increasing incomes, urbanization and awareness about western brands is helping Hilfiger and other western brands to boost sales in a nation where revenue from selling apparel is predicted to more than double to as much as $55 billion in 2015, according to consultant McKinsey & Co. Indians spend the most on buying clothes after food, with apparel accounting for about 10 percent of total retail sales in India, McKinsey said.

Murjani sells Hilfiger in 98 cities in India through about 1,000 stores. Murjani, which set up its first retail store in Shanghai in 1930, owns the rights to sell Hilfiger, Calvin Klein and French Connection in India. The group also owns a luxury mall in Mumbai.

New York-based Phillips-Van Heusen Corp. said in March it agreed to buy Hilfiger from private-equity firm Apax Partners LP for about $3 billion.

To contact the reporters on this story: Malavika Sharma in New Delhi at msharma52@bloomberg.net; Saikat Chatterjee in New Delhi at schatterjee4@bloomberg.net

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