Now Prada vies for India entry

Italian luxury fashion brand Prada is said to be in talks with prospective domestic partners

for India entry. It’s also scouting for prominent retail venues to establish its presence.

Listed in Hong Kong, Prada had a market cap of Hong Kong 183.2 billion dollars (above Rs 9,00,000 crores), according to Bloomberg data. Sellers of luxury products are seeking to move out of developed markets that have been hit by global economic slowdown and find new buyers in emerging economies. As per October 2012 Euromonitor report, the value of luxury goods sold in India was pegged at 2.18 billion dollars (around Rs 11,660 crores) in 2011, and is expected to rise to 7 billion dollars (Rs 37,618 crores) by 2017.

Prada is one of the top few luxury brands that so far doesn’t have a retail presence in India. Globally, it competes with brands such as Gucci and Louis Vuitton and specializes in men and women’s clothing, handbags, shoes and accessories.

Prada, which had sales worth 2.34 billion euros (around Rs 16,700 crores) in the nine months ended October 31, also owns labels such as women’s luxury fashion brand Miu Miu and men’s footwear brands Church’s and Car Shoe. The company has operations in 70 countries through 388 directly operated stores, 30 franchise stores, and a network of high-end multi-brand stores and luxury department stores as of a year ago.