'Apparel prices may rise 15% next fiscal'

Rising input costs coupled with a perpetual increase in minimum labour wages may jack up apparel prices by around 15 per cent in the first quarter of the new fiscal, an industry official said.

"We expect prices of apparel to rise by 15 per cent in the April-June quarter due to the overall increase in input costs," Shoppers Stop's President and CEO Govind Shrikhande told reporters here.

The apparel segment has already seen a 5-6 per cent increase in prices and the current quarter is also likely to see an increase in the same range, Shrikhande said.

Minimum wages are witnessing an increase every month and today they hover in the Rs 6,000-6,500 range, he said, adding that other input costs have gone up significantly.

"The government must try to control this inflationary trend," he said.

On the company's expansion plans, the official said that they are well on "track," adding that in the next three years the company has an ambitious target of taking its total store count to 60 from the the existing 36.

The company has already set up four stores this fiscal while four more stores would be opened by February-March this year, he said.

Shoppers Stop operates large format department stores, home stores and specialty stores such as bookstore chain Crossword and cosmetics stores MAC.

Besides, Shoppers Stop also plans to increase the number of its hyperstores to 26 from the present eight in the next four years, he said.

"Our growth plans are completely on track, which are being funded completely through internal accruals," Shrikhande said.