Aditya Birla Fashion & Retail (ABFRL) plans to launch a men’s ethnic wear brand, and has acquired 33.5 per cent stake in ace designer Tarun Tahiliani’s Goodview Properties for the same. ABFRL holds 80 per cent stake in the new entity while Tarurn Tahiliani holds the remaining 20 per cent.

To operate in the premium occasion wear segment, the new brand eyes Rs 500 crore business in the next five years. It also plans to set up 250 stores in the same period. The deal gives ABFRL 33 per cent stake in Tahiliani’s existing luxury couture business with the option to increase it to 51 per cent in the next few years.

With a network of 3,000 stores ABFRL sells clothes and accessories from brands like Louis Philippe, Van Heusen, Allen Solly to Peter England, among others. The company was established in 1996 and spans categories such as apparel, wedding wear, accessories, jewellery, interiors and homes which are retailed across company-owned and operated outlets in India and distributor across the country and overseas.

VS Ganesh has been promoted as the new Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer of Page Industries for five years effective June 1. Ganesh will replace Vedji Ticku, who resigned recently from the company citing personal reasons. Ganesh was presently serving as the Executive Director - Manufacturing and Operation of the company. He has 30 years of experience and has worked in top leadership capacities in the company and other reputed organizations.

An exclusive licensee of American underwear brand Jockey International and Speedo International for manufacture, distribution, and marketing in India, Page Industries was founded in 1994 by Sunder Genomal and his brothers Nari and Ramesh; the three brothers combined hold a 54 per cent stake in the company.It is based out of Bengaluru, and has manufacturing facilities in Bengaluru, Hasan, Mysore, Tiptur, Gauribidanur and Tiruppur.

Future Retail granted National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) permission to issue directions to convene meetings of shareholders and creditors of applicant companies, including it, to consider the Rs 24,713-crore deal with Reliance Retail following an order by the Supreme Court. Earlier in the day, the apex court had allowed the NCLT, Mumbai to continue with the proceedings but asked not to pass a final order on the amalgamation of Future Retail Ltd (FRL) with Reliance Retail, as it agreed to hear Amazon's plea against the Delhi High Court verdict that stayed a single judge directive to maintain status quo on the deal.

Accordingly, the NCLT can now issue directions to convene the meetings of shareholders and creditors of the applicant companies including FRL to consider the scheme. The Delhi High Court on February 8 had stayed its single judge direction to FRL and various statutory authorities to maintain status quo on the mega deal. The interim direction was passed on FRL's appeal challenging the February 2 order of the single judge.

The high court division bench had also declined Amazon's request to keep its order in abeyance for a week so that it can explore appropriate remedies.

The Q3 FY 2020 net profit of ethnic wear and home textile brand Bella Casa grew 69 per cent to Rs 4 crore as against Rs 2 crore in the corresponding period last year. The company’s revenues jumped 39 per cent to Rs 54 crore during the quarter under review as compared to Rs 38 crore in the corresponding period of the previous fiscal.

In the coming year, the brand aims to focus on new product launches and enhanced distribution to build on the growth momentum. Overall, it aims to be more agile and increasing the pace of innovations, enhance its go-to-market approach, and continue to outperform the market and deliver industry-leading returns.

One of India’s largest manufacturers and distributors of designer ethnic wear and home textiles, Bella Casa Fashion & Retail has a network of 80 authorized dealers/wholesalers and reaches out to around 3000 retailers across the country. The company also has a strong online presence through its platform and e-commerce companies like Flipkart, Amazon, Ajio, etc.

The Supreme Court has barred a tribunal from giving its final review on Future Group's $3.4 billion sale of retail assets until it hears Amazon.com Inc’s arguments. Amazon has objected to Future Group's sale of assets to Reliance Industries (RIL) as according to the company it violates contracts.

The Supreme Court ordered the tribunal to continue reviewing the deal and oversee the approval process. However, it cannot pass a final order until the court hears Amazon's concerns. The deal has already been cleared by stock exchanges and the antitrust watchdog while the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) is yet to clear it.

Future has asked NCLT to let it call meetings to seek shareholder approvals for the deal. That process will continue, and Future will later seek final approval from the tribunal.

The outcome of this tussle involving two of the world's richest men, Amazon's Jeff Bezos and Reliance's Mukesh Ambani, is likely to reshape India's pandemic-hit shopping sector and decide if Amazon can blunt Reliance's dominance of retail.

According to PK Agarwal, Chairman and Managing Director, Cotton Corporation of India (CCI), India’s cotton exports may increase by about 30 per cent for the current crop year, October 2020-September 2021, as rising global prices have made the fiber competitive.

Exports could be between 65 and 70 lakh bales (of 170 kg each) compared with 50 lakh bales the previous year. Agarwal sounded bullish on export prospects with CCI holding huge stocks of the fiber.

The bullishness on cotton exports, after traders pruned their projections to 54 lakh bales last month, follows cotton prices in New York topping 89 cents per pound (45,924 a candy of 356 kg).

In contrast, Shankar-6, India’s benchmark cotton for export market, is quoted at Rs44,600 - 45,100 a candy. Cotton futures for delivery in April were quoted at Rs22,200 a bale (₹46,489 a candy) on MCX.

Indian cotton is still the cheapest in the world. There was good demand from countries such as Pakistan, Bangladesh, Vietnam and China among others. Bangladesh is the biggest buyer of Indian cotton. Turkey and Indonesia are other buyers. Pakistan also needs cotton as its crop is lower this year.

However, trade between Pakistan and India came to a halt after the Pulawama blast in February 2019. But Islamabad can still get the commodity from Dubai or other Gulf destinations, indirectly. Indian shippers are offering cotton at least 10 per cent lower than the prices quoted on New York Mercantile Exchange.

Exporters' body Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO) has elected A Sakthivel as its new president. A leading knitwear exporter Sakthivel is currently chairman of Apparel Export Promotion Council. He replaces Mumbai-based business S K Saraf in FIEO, an apex body of the export promotion councils, commodity boards and export development authorities in India.

Set up in 1965, FIEO provides crucial interface between international trading community of India and the Central and state governments, financial institutions, ports, railways, surface transport and all engaged in export trade facilitation. It directly and indirectly serves the interests of over 200,000 exporters from every goods and services sector in the country.

It is an ISO 9001:2015 certified organization and ensures uniform and high quality service to its members and associates. It also facilitates redressal of exporters’ problems by taking them up with the concerned authorities.

Delhi’s most admired shopping center, Select Citywalk has added four more stores in the past month. The new stores include: Sassy Begum, Harajuku Café, Haagen Dazs (Kiosk) and New Balance. The shopping centre opened 20 new stores in the past 6 months, offering consumers a new shopping experience post lockdown.

Winner of many awards, Select Citywalk provides a comprehensive portfolio of brands for visitors. It offers brands from different categories ranging from athleisure- adventure brands like EA7, Decathlon, Swiss Military to smart casuals and footwear from New Balance, Brwklyn Brothers, Buggati, Gant, crocs and more. The shopping centre also offers its visitor brands like Digital House- A luxury gadgets Store, Ximi Vogue, a Korea-based designer brand that offers fast-fashion products across categories such as beauty, fashion, home decor and lifestyle.

The shopping center focuses on categories such as sports and fitness, time-honoured footwear craftsmanship, luxury brands from Europe, London, Dubai, etc.

Expanding stores through the franchise model, Mumbai-based graphic T-shirt brand Tantra T-shirts opened a store in Malaysia recently. The new store marks Tantra’s entry into the Malaysian market. The store features the brands’ new range of men’s and women’s T-shirts in bright colors and quirky prints.

Tantra T-shirts also opened a store in Mumbai in December last year. In 2019, it invited investors to open their stores with an average investment of Rs 10 to Rs 13 lakh. The brand offers full assistance to these investors, and hopes for swift growth and returns on their investments.

Tantra T-shirts also launched the 2021 collection on its dedicated e-commerce store. It currently retails T-shirts, children’s wear, baby wear, and new face mask range from the store. The productss are sold all over India, via offline and online stores, and abroad. In 2017, Tantra T-shirts was listed in the most influential retail brand category in the 13th Asia Retail Congress and also listed among the top 20 casual wear retail brands.