Pavers England spreads India footprint

Pavers formed a joint venture with London-based Foresight

Group for a $500 million global conglomerate to focus on dynamic growth opportunities in India. The premium leather footwear brand Pavers England launched in India in 2008 is currently being retailed through 10 exclusive franchise outlets and 60 MBOs, including Reliance Footprint, Shoppers Stop and Central. The company will invest $15 million during the next three years to widen its retail network to 500 points of sale. According to Utsav Seth, CEO and MD of Pavers England the targeted 500 points of sale by 2015, will either be in the form of exclusive stores or MBOs. Of the $15 million to be invested in the next three years, 60 per cent will be spent on stocks and the rest on increasing warehouse facilities and training retail staff. Around $3 million will go into the R&D centers set up while entering the market. The R&D centre is one among the six such centers the $200 million parent company owns worldwide. The Indian subsidiary not only designs footwear for the parent company, but also procures around one million pairs from the country for global consumption. Seth says this could go up to 1.5 to 1.7 million pairs, but India has to become cost competitive compared to countries like Vietnam.

Pavers England has set a target of 100 per cent annual growth rate for the next three years. The footwear company also wishes to increase its global procurement from India by more than 50 per cent. The aim is to touch an annual turnover of Rs 240 crores. Last financial year they grew by 115 per cent.