The Hyderabad-based ethnicwear retailer Sai Silks Kalamandir has planned expansion across the country over the next two years by taking the franchise route to strengthen its retail presence by adding 25 new stores with a focus on the south Indian states.
Sai Silks is awaiting approval from the Securities and Exchange Board of India for a Rs 1,200 crore (US $ 146 million) initial public offering (IPO) and intends to utilise the funds from the share sale to fuel its expansion.
“We plan to add 25 stores in the next 24 months. And most of those stores will be in the franchise model. The expansion will be funded by the money coming in from the IPO, which will have 50 percent of the issue as an offer for sale by the promoter family,” said Durgaprasad Chalavadi, Founder and Chairman of Sai Silks
“Another area of expansion will be lingerie, by bringing in premium domestic brands as well as international brands. It already hawks mid-range domestic lingerie brands at its KLM Malls,” he added.
Kalamandir targets the middle and upper middle class by selling sarees within a price band of Rs. 1,000 to Rs. 1,00,000. The price range for sarees starts from Rs. 6,000 and goes up to as much as Rs. 3.5 lakh.
Then there is the ethnic silk sarees brand Vara Mahalakshmi under Sai Silks, which is meant for festivals, weddings and occasional wear, and sells at the price range of Rs. 4,000 to Rs. 2.5 lakh. Sai Silk’s fourth and youngest ‘pleat’ is KLM. Started in 2017, it’s a value-fashion brand for the family and for the masses.
Chalavadi, a techie by training, founded Sai Silks Kalamandir in 2005 after spending several years working with SAP in the US. His business is the second-largest in terms of overall revenue just behind Pothees, which has been around for more than a century. Sai Silks is the only ethnic saree brand to break the Rs 1,000 crore topline in such a short period.
Sai Silks (Kalamandir) currently runs 46 brick-and-mortar stores in South India and also provides ethnic clothing for men and children. The business’s flagship clothing brand is named Kalamandir and it counts retail outlets in states including Karnataka, Telangana, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh.
