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Swiss Weitnauer plans foray into local retailing

BS Corporate Bureau

Weitnauer Holdings, the Swiss duty-free $9 billion conglomerate, is planning to enter the Indian retail market through joint venture or franchise route in areas such as electronics, fragrances and cosmetic products.

The move is an extension of the group's retail operations worldwide, Sunil Tuli, Weitnauer Singapore PTE chief operating officer, said.

He added that the electronics retail chain would be launched under the brand name of 'Electronix' and the name of the fragrance and cosmetic chain has not been decided as yet.

The group would launch the Electronix retail chain sometime during July this year in Delhi and Bombay. The chain would expand to Madras and Bangalore next year, Tuli said. Depending upon the response, the group would later target other metro and mini metro cities also. The cosmetic and fragrance retail chain is likely to be in place by the yearend, he added.

The group had earlier bid for setting up duty-free shops in India but later the plans were wavered because "the government was not playing a constructive role in promoting competition."

"We have been bidding for duty-free shops since 1996 but were never awarded the contract. Before bidding next time, we would like to know the government's seriousness in promoting fair competition in this segment," Tuli said.

In 1996, Weitnauer claims to have made a bid of $70-million for a five-year lease towards licence fee to be paid to the Airports Authority of India (AAI). It was the highest bid, but the contract was awarded to the state-owned India Tourism Development Corporation (ITDC), Tuli said.

On the retail market venture, Tuli said the business plan was being prepared and would be finalised soon. He, however, refused to give details about the investments envisaged by the group in domestic retail business.

"We have already set up a liaison office in India which is actively working on future plans in this direction and the possibility of acquiring duty-free shops at the new Indian airports," he added. Tuli, however, added that the duty-free business would remain Weitnauer's core business.

At present, duty-free shops at various airports are being run by state-owned ITDC with an annual net turnover of Rs 1 billion and a Germany-based duty free-shop consultant, Heinemann, is the only international player working as consolidator for the ITDC shops.

Weitnauer Holdings operates at more than 35 international airports worldwide with over 2700 employees. It is headquartered at Basel in Switzerland and builds, manages and maintains duty-free shops around the world. The important locations where the group operates include Singapore, Denmark, Germany, France, Italy, Mexico, Georgia and Russia.

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