Nykaa Fashion has forayed into offline retail with its first store in Ambience Mall in Delhi's Vasant Kunj area. The store will open in early December. Nykaa first started as an online beauty retailer in 2012 and gradually expanded its offline footprint. Today it has 76 stores across the country.

Just like beauty stores, Nykaa Fashion will be a multi-brand store. The retailer plans to open 10-15 stores in the next couple of months. It currently has, 600 brands are listed on its online store. Over the last 12 months, the retailer’s business has grown 10x, over the last six months it has grown 6x. It plans to launch multiple marketing events and campaigns next year to increase brand awareness.

In November, Nykaa had raised an undisclosed amount from asset management firm Fidelity Investments through a secondary transaction that gave exit to some of its early investors. Nykaa had turned a unicorn in March this year after raising Rs 166 crore from Steadview Capital at a valuation of $1.2 billion.

Promoter of Avenue Supermarkets, Radhakishan Damani and persons acting in concert (PACs), have sold over 28.22 lakh shares in Tata’s retail arm Trent for an estimated sum of over ₹202 crore, reports Live Mint.

As per regulatory filing, Radhakishan Damani, Kirandevi G Damani, Jyoti Kabra, Bright Star Investments Damani Estates and Finance, Derive Investments and Derive Trading and Resorts Pvt Ltd, sold 28,22,516 shares in the open market.

The shares were sold on basis of weighted average price of the stock at Rs 717.92 apiece, the transaction is estimated at Rs 202.63 crore.

Last month, Trent had reported a consolidated net loss of Rs 78.56 crore and revenue from operations stood at Rs 585.37 crore for the second quarter ended September 30, 2020. The company operates stores across four formats including Westside which offers an exclusive range of its own branded fashion apparel and is the mainstay of the retailing business of the company.

The second retail format Zudio offers affordable fashion through its 20 stores across 12 cities. Star-the fresh food and grocery retail chain, operates 26 supermarkets and 10 hypermarkets and Landmark, a family entertainment concept, operates through five independent stores and retailed through select Westside locations.

As per Fashion Network, designer Payal Singhal has launched a new line of potlis in collaboration with accessories brand Fizzy Goblet. Singhal has also partnered with the International School of Design to teach fashion.

After recently launching a line of juttis with Fizzy Goblet, a brand that specializes in the traditional footwear, Payal Singhal has launched a line of printed potlis, the brand shared on Facebook. The PS x Fizzy Goblet collaborative collection gives the classic draw-string bags a modern twist with whimsically printed textiles, pom poms, and tassels.

The potlis are reversible and feature a complimentary print on each side. The line retails from Fizzy Goblet’s dedicated e-commerce store.

Designer and brand founder Payal Singhal also recently partnered with the International School of Design to launch an interactive fashion masterclass. The ongoing pandemic has led to an increase in demand for online resources, including in the fashion industry.

According to Ministry of Commerce and Industry, India’s apparel imports have plunged 17.26 per cent on Y-o-Y basis to $ 92.81 million in October ’20.

India has experienced a sharp rise of 13.12 per cent in imports from Bangladesh valuing $ 41.20 million, despite total RMG imports falling in the 10th month of 2020, reports Apparel Resources.

The contribution of Bangladesh was 44.39 per cent of total Indian RMG import value and this directly indicates that Bangladesh is still a key import partner for India. In the same month, imports from China plunged by 32.49 per cent on yearly basis to $ 25.04 million, while the third top importing destination Spain fell 26.56 per cent to ship $6.94 million worth of garments to India in October ’20.

As far as cumulative data (January-October ’20 period) is concerned, India nosedived by 26.50 per cent in its garment imports value which stood at $714.71 million as compared to $ 972.35 million in the same period of 2019. Bangladesh too fell by 30.90 per cent in its RMG shipment to India in the first 10-month period of 2020 and valued $ 231.17 million.

Designer Kavya Singh Kundu has launched her namesake sustainable fashion brand and is banking on affordability to drive product sales amid the COVID-19 crisis.

Label Kavya Singh Kundu is inspired by the designer’s personal style and her love for all things bling and shiny. The label's target market is nature and fashion-conscious millennials, which it hopes will drive sales of its products.

The designer’s collections have been made using handwoven fabrics for most styles, apart from some organic fibre mill made fabrics too, namely orange fibre and bamboo fibre textiles.These collections are deeply connected to Indian handlooms and radiate a modern global aesthetic.

The collections have been priced in the range of Rs 5,000 ($80) to Rs 25,000 and will be available for purchase online, and social media platforms.

Multi-brand fashion and lifestyle retailer Shoppers Stop is expanding its online shopping features to cater to the new shopping paradigm. The retailer witnessed 27 per cent growth in eye makeup category with other categories including skincare, fragrances, hair care, and men’s grooming registering strong sales. To cater to the required health and safety measures, the retailer has taken a number of steps like discontinuing its in-store makeup testers and make-overs. It is also developing digital methods for matching makeup to skin tone.

The business plans to extend its ‘Personal Shoppers’ service on messaging app, WhatsApp. This extension will link customers with in-house beauty advisors who will help them to shop the product selection through WhatsApp.

Shoppers Stop also plans to continue launching new brands on its e-commerce store to respond to the increasing popularity of online shopping. During the pandemic, it launched more than 150 brands digitally, including Aldo accessories, Tom Ford accessories, Gap kids, Steve Madden watches, Michael Kors jewellery, etc

As per Moody’s Investor Services, the earnings of most Indian companies are expected to grow next year as economic activity gathers pace post-lockdown and demand starts to recover following a sharp slump, supporting deleveraging. According to the analyst, financially strong companies will have decent access to funding, while speculative-grade issuers will face challenges.

Specifically, around 39 per cent of the total $16 billion of debt maturing through 2022 pertains to financially weaker, speculative-grade issuers, it said.

This underpins Moody's Investors Service's “stable” outlook for Indian corporates in 2021. Broad-based demand revival and a low base in 2020 will support strong gross domestic product (GDP) growth of 10.8 per cent in India in fiscal 2022 ending March 2022. It would follow a decline of around 10.6 per cent in fiscal 2021—the country's first contraction in four decades.

However, the overall recovery will remain fragile as new infections continue to grow, although at a slower rate.

Dubai-based Landmark Group has promoted Kabir Lumba to the position of chairman of its board of directors.

Lumba will replace Ramanathan Hariharan, who will retire from his position in June 2021 while Lumba will charge on the 1st of April 2021. Additionally, Lumba will also hold the charge of CEO of Landmark Retail Middle East.

Lumba had over two decades of experience in senior leadership roles and had led the Lifestyle; Home Centre businesses in India for over 14 years before taking over the role of CEO, Max Middle East in 2018 and subsequently the CEO of Landmark Group.

Founded in 1973 in Bahrain, the Landmark Group is one of the largest retail groups in the Middle East. It entered the Indian market in 1999 and currently operates formats including Lifestyle department stores chain, Home Centre, and Max Fashion in the country.

Lifestyle International had reported strong sales of Rs 8,467 crore ($1.19 billion) for the last financial year with a net profit of Rs 426 crore.

Sandeep Kataria has become the first Indian to be appointed the global CEO of the Bata Shoe Organization. As of now he is the CEO of Bata Indian. He will take over from Alexis Nasard who stepped down after almost five years in the role.

Before joining Bata India in 2017, Kataria has been engaged in various roles with reputed companies like Unilever, Yum Brands and Vodafone in India and Europe. He has over 24 years of experience. His contribution as the CEO of Bata India included driving the company’s consistent growth and profitability.

Under Kataria’s leadership, Bata India doubled its profits driven by double digit topline growth, and sponsored some of the most ingenious campaigns, including ‘Surprisingly Bata’, that revamped Bata’s image as a contemporary brand targeted at younger consumers. Over the past few years, Bata India has achieved exceptional growth in footwear volumes, revenues and profits, and has strengthened Bata’s customer measures in a highly competitive footwear market, says Ashwani Windlass, Chairman, Bata India.