Fashion
Indian retailer Malabar Gold and Diamonds says it will open 22 new stores in India, the Gulf and ‘the Far East’ over the next six months.
New showrooms will be opened in Hong Kong and Indonesia as part of the plan, but there are no details as yet on timing or exact location.
To help stock the expanded store network – 155 after the openings – a new gold processing unit will be opened in Dubai and a diamond processing facility in Mumbai.
“The new showrooms will be opened in major cities across India, the Gulf region and the Far East in next six months,” Malabar group chairman M P Ahammed said in a statement.
The rollout is a further step towards Malabar’s goal of reaching 300 stores by 2020.
“In response to the government’s ‘Make in India’ initiative, we are setting up new processing units at Kinfra industrial park in Kerala and at other industrial parks in Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat and West Bengal,” Ahammed said.
“We are also building an advanced gold manufacturing unit on a five-acre land in Dubai with the support of the UAE government.
“As more Indians are buying diamond jewellery due to changing lifestyle, higher disposable incomes and for being trendy, the diamond processing unit will be in Mumbai, which is a major centre for diamonds business,” Ahammad said.
The group’s retail network is already spread across nine countries, including Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Malaysia and Singapore.
