Readymade garments sector posting 60 per cent growth

Lucknow, Nov 14 (UNI) The booming readymade garments sector in the country is posting a fat annual growth rate of around 60 per cent.

''The rise in income of the burgeoning Indian middle-class coupled with fashion consciousness among the youth is driving the growth in the readymades,'' Ramesh Poddar, MD and Vice Chairman of leading fabric maker Siyaram's told UNI here.

However, the textiles sector is already saturated and is growing meagrely at the rate of upto six per cent, he added.

Commenting on the business potential in Uttar Pradesh, Mr Poddar claimed the state was a big market for all the industry verticals.

Of Siyaram's net turnover and other income of over Rs 400 crore last fiscal, UP contributed Rs 50 crore to the company's coffers.

To cash in on the high potential of the readymades, Siyaram's have also forayed into readymades by launching (Monday to Sunday Dressing (MSD) brand by opening its first exclusive retail store named Fabric to Fashion (FZF) in Lucknow on Sunday.

The country's first F2F store will retail all brands of Siyaram's under one roof including fabric brands -- J Hampstead, Mistair, Featherz, Miniature and Zanneti and its readymade brand MSD.

The company is planning to open 100-125 such outlets in the next 12-18 months across the country.

Siyaram's strategy is to offer all options of clothing under one roof and yet be different from the multitude of retail stores, that are mushrooming across the country with the help of its 30,000 strong retailers' network.

''Since, we also manufacture fabrics, getting into retailing was the logical diversification for us providing forward integration. We are targetting the middle class and upwards for our range of readymade garments,'' the Siyaram's official informed.

Mr Poddar said almost 80 per cent of the fabric requirement of the newly-launched company's readymades would be met in-house.

Besides F2F, the MSD range of clothing will also be made availabe in Multi Brand Outlets (MBO) soon.

Siyaram's is the market leader in man made fibre and is one of the largest players in the market with tremendous brand equity.

The company posted a gross profit of over Rs 38.50 crore for the year ended March 31, 2006 against Rs 22.79 crore for the previous fiscal.

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