The fastest growing retail vertical within the eponymous Aditya Birla Group “Indriya” has opened three new stores in March in the city of Nizams – Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh.
The stores have come up at densely populated neighbourhoods of the city, such as AS Rao Nagar, Kondapur and Kompally, Other stores of Indriya are located in the top two metro cities, Delhi and Mumbai and in Tier 2 cities such as Jaipur, Indore and Ahmedabad.
Indriya is the jewellery vertical of Aditya Birla Fashion Retail Limited (ABFRL), the flagship division of the USD 65 Bn Birla Group run by Kumarmangalam Birla.
The company has plans to open 100 stores across India by end of 2026.
ABFRL began its retail journey in the 90s with the launch of its first ever branded apparel “Peter England” for the aspiration middle class through mass distribution followed by Exclusive Brand Outlets (EBOs).
Soon, the company launched diagonally premium brands of workwear through “Louis Phillippe” and “Van Heusen” and casual wear brand “Allen Solly”.
In the 2000s, the company acquired Fab Mart, a grocery retail chain and rebranded it as MORE and operated Supermarkets and Big Box Hypermarkets. The Founders of Fab Mart, after their exit to the Birlas founded Big Basket. ABFRL exited grocery retail through an exit to Samara Capital.
In 2010s, ABFRL bought the “Pantaloons” department store chain from Kishore Biyani’s Future Group. Pantaloons, back then, was India’s largest private label apparel department store chain, which was Biyani’s first foray into organised retailing in the early 90s.
ABFRL also acquired majority and complete stake in over a dozen fashion brands, right after the Covid-19 crisis, some at throwaway prices, to be able to build a significant portfolio in the fashion business.
Editor’s Note
Indriya began its journey in July 2024 and has now grown to a network of over 12 stores across India.
The brand competes in the premium jewellery space alongside TATA Group’s Tanishq as well as national players such as Malabar Gold and Diamonds, Kalyan Jewellers and several regional players such as Thangamayil, Senco, etc.
Companies such as the TATA Group, the Birlas and the Ambani’s Reliance Retail have all included jewellery and CDIT in their retail portfolio to build significant top lines to their respective businesses. ABFRL, however does not operate electronics product retail at the moment.
While margins are quite high for premium players such as ABFRL’s Indriya – from 12-20% on designer wear jewellery products, the value addition costs add significantly due to their workmanship, thereby rising product prices and bill values.
Discerning upper middle class consumers, who purchase jewellery not just for lifetime or long term savings but also for their ornamental value, have been willing to pay a notch higher, as has been clearly proven in the case of Tanishq.