Bata to invest Rs 15 cr each in 3 yrs

Footwear manufacturer and retailer, Bata India said on Wednesday that it will invest Rs 15 crore for three years each in modernisation and expansion of three existing plants in Patna, Batanagar and Bangalore.

Besides this, the company will also invest Rs 70 crore this year, in opening at least 100 stores across India.

“The plant modernisation will enable us to increase production capacity in our plants by 15-20 per cent each year,” said Rajeev Gopalakrishnan, MD, Bata India at a press conference after the company’s annual general meeting, here on Wednesday.

Also interestingly, Gopalakrishnan told reporters that of the total sales, the share of women and children shoes should increase from the current 22 per cent to about 30 per cent by the end of the year.

“This is in keeping with the current global trends, wherein, women tend to consume more footwear than men,” he explained.

Bata also said that at present, 50 per cent of their total sales come from products which are manufactured through outsourcing. The rest is produced at Bata factories. This ratio is likely to remain stable.

“I am comfortable working on new beats, and am looking to shift to Mumbai,” he said. Bata is also planning to sell 50,000 pairs of shoes online this year, as opposed to the 17,000 shoes sold online in 2011.