The luxury goods retailer, ‘Saks Fifth Avenue’ is likely to open two stores in India through a partnership with Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail. The stores will be located in New Delhi and Mumbai. The retailer will have goods from brands like Gucci, Burberry and Ralph Lauren across segments, such as cosmetics, apparel and accessories.

Saks Fifth Avenue will be the first multi-brand luxury retailer to enter India. It has now about 60 stores around the world.

Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail’s business includes the Madura Fashion division. It sells brands including Van Heusen, Louis Philippe, Peter England and Allen Solly. Pantaloons which it acquired in 2012, is India’s largest fashion and apparel retailer with a revenue of over Rs.6,060 crore in financial year 2016. In the luxury segment, Aditya Birla operates multi-brand retail chain Collective and has been slowly expanding its portfolio. Last year it announced a partnership with UK-based luxury brand Simon Carter and US-based fashion retailer Forever 21.

The luxury goods market in India still lags behind more advanced markets such as China by 12 years. India’s luxury goods market is led by the National Capital Region, Mumbai and Bangalore. It is dominated by single-brand retailers such as Gucci and Louis Vuitton, which have about half a dozen stores in India.

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