Marks & Spencer to continue investing in India for growth

By

Maverick Martins

Published
Feb 12, 2019

British multinational retailer Marks & Spencer has set its sight on the Indian market for growth and has planned aggressive expansion in the country in the coming months.
 

The company has witnessed strong growth in the Indian market and considers it to be a very important market as it is the second largest for the brand after Britain.
 
Marks & Spencer had entered the Indian market through a joint venture partnership with Reliance Retail. The JV will be investing further to consolidate its market position by opening six new stores over the next two months.

“India has become increasingly an important market for us. We are now the largest market for M&S outside of our home market. We are 71 stores today and we continue to invest in this market. We opened nine stores in the last six months and it is our intention to open six more in the next 60 days,” James Munson, managing director of Marks & Spencer Reliance India, told PTI.
 
“The company clocked revenue of Rs 908 crore ($127.6 million) last year and has been growing at a CAGR of 24 percent over the last five years. We look to maintain that expansion pace in the next year as well. There are no other markets which are expanding the way we are expanding here,” Munson added.
 
M&S entered the Indian market with its first store in 2001 and later entered into a partnership with Reliance Retail to further expand its retail presence in India. It currently has 71 stores across leading cities in India.