Himatsingka Seide, one of the leading producers of silk fabrics and yarns, plans to expand its retail presence across the country and overseas through its home furnishing brand Atmosphere.
“We are increasing our retail presence overseas. We opened our first Dubai store in May and will be opening one in Singapore next week. At present, there are 12 Atmosphere stores across the country. The company plans to open three more stores across the country and abroad by the end of this fiscal,” said Aditya Himatsingka, executive director, Himatsingka.
The company is also set to enter the non-silk category, and will soon start manufacturing high-end bed linen for the export and domestic market. For this Himatsingka has set up a greenfield bed linen project at Hassan SEZ, Karnataka. “On the whole, we are investing around Rs 1,000 crore for our foray into the bed linen category,” Himatsingka added.
As part of the retail expansion plans, the company is also looking at another overseas acquisition. In 2007 Himatsingka Seide made two acquisitions – 70 per cent stake in Giuseppe Bellora SpA, Italy, and 80 per cent stake in US-based Divatex Home Fashions.
