High Street Essentials, the makers of fashion brand Indya, on Monday announced a Rs 50-crore fundraise from JSW Group chairman Sajjan Jindal's wife Sangita Jindal and other investors.
Three fourths of the funding is equity infusion for a minority stake, while the rest is debt, Indya's co-founder Shivani Poddar said.
Other investors who have participated include family offices of SRF Group, Krishna Bodanapu of Cyient Technologies and Timmy Sarna from Pure Home + Living.
Poddar said, while there are a lot of opportunities to benefit from the industrial or capital goods-focused JSW Group's businesses, the immediate driver is the synergies that are made possible courtesy the work done with village artisans by Sangita Jindal-headed JSW Foundation.
Anurag Murali, also a co-founder of the company, said Indya can benefit from JSW's expertise in celebrity-led marketing and supply chain management in the future.
It can be noted that a majority of big conglomerates have investments in fashion brands but nearly all such groups have retail ventures.
The 2012-founded Indya, which delivered operational profit in April this year, will be utilising the newly raised funds for business expansion, and plans to invest up to USD 3 million in FY25, which will include opening ten offline stores in the country, Murali said.
At present, it has 12 exclusive brand outlets in eight cities, and 150 large-format retail outlets, including Lifestyle, Shoppers Stop, Centro and Ethnicity.
Having been active in selling its wares online in the US, the brand is also aiming to open a physical presence either in the US or South Africa in FY25, he added.
In a statement, Sangita Jindal said along with the global expansion, the investment will also help the brand widen its market share in the Indian wedding-wear opportunity.
The company's core strength is in its unique designs, she said, appreciating the back-end capabilities created by the founders.
