RmKV Silks to raise funds for expansion in south India

RmKV Silks, the Chennai-based wedding

silks retailer plans to raise funds through private equity investors to carry out its planned retail expansion in the southern part of India. Competing with other leading players like Nalli Silk and Kumaran Silks, the company is eyeing to raise Rs 200 crores to invest in opening new stores.

RmKV Silks, run by the third generation of the family, has a turnover of Rs 500 crores and has 7 sprawling stores across Chennai, Coimbatore, Tirunelveli and Bangalore. Moving ahead, the company is looking to explore Hyderabad and Kerala while aiming for a growth target of about 40 percent.

For the first time in June this year, it began scouting for places in malls to cater to today’s shoppers. It opened stores at shopping malls in Chennai (Phoenix Market City and Forum Vijaya) and Bangalore (Orion) to offer the brand access to a more ‘high-profile and younger’ set of customers who seek greater comfort and a better shopping ambience than what high-streets provide.

RmKV’s mall journey began three years ago when it set up a store at the Brookefields Mall in a so-called conservative market of Coimbatore. It was started in the 1920s by Visvanatha Pillai in Tirunelveli, where it has two stores. The brand is known for its innovations such as the ‘reversible’ sari and the sari with 50,000 colours.