Chumbak's revenue growth declines in 2017

Chumbak, the lifestyle products retailer has reported a sharp drop in revenue growth for year ending March 2017 but its losses widened just a tad thanks to a slower rise in costs. According to the company's regulatory filings, net sales for 2016-17 rose 20.6 per cent to Rs 41 crore, this compares with an almost 80 per cent increase in revenue for 2015-16 to Rs 34 crore.

The Bengaluru-based company, which sells colourful apparel and accessories, recorded a net loss of Rs 19.9 crore for 2016-17, a little wider than the loss of Rs 19.4 crore the year before. For 2014-15, however, it had posted a much smaller loss of Rs 7.1 crore.

It plans to start selling personal care products, which includes bath and skin-care products, perfumes, cosmetics and toiletries, according to previous filings with the Registrar of Companies. However, it is not clear if it has immediate plans to enter the segment.

Chumbak was founded in 2009 by Prabhakar and wife Shubhra Chadda. Prabhakar has worked at Sun Microsystems, Motorola, Fabmart and Titan, and Chadda at Nortel Networks and NetApp. The mixture retailer sells its merchandise on its website as well as at 18 exclusive stores across 11 cities in India, including Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Chennai, Kochi, and Jaipur. Besides, it has pop-up stores in malls across the country.