Global fashion company Hennes & Mauritz (H&M) clocked more than Rs 1.75 crore in sales on the opening day of its first store in India, almost double what its largest rival Zara sold on its inaugural day five years ago at the same location, Select CityWalk mall in New Delhi, according to informed sources.

This translates into an average billing of about Rs 27,000 every minute during the 11 hours the store was open, or the equivalent of 5,000 pairs of jeans and 10,000 tops sold. The store opened its doors on Friday and its fans had queued up outside overnight to be among the first to get their hands on H&M’s merchandise.

H&M made in one single day what a smaller store like Puma or Adidas would make in one year. “We were waiting for this day for a long time now and this fabulous response is truly worth the wait, “Janne Einola, country manager of H&M India said.

“Consumers and good brands live in each other’s shadow. India always had consumers but not enough brands and everything is happening now. Most of the global brands see India as an opportunity which offers substantial room for an error and a lot of room to grow. The recent launches of Burger King, GAP, Kidzania and H&M showed growth momentum is building up really well,”Jaspal Sabharwal, partner at Everstone Capital said.