Luxury watch maker says difficult to fulfill 30% domestic sourcing requirement

Raymond Weil cites the reason by saying that all of their products are manufactured in Switzerland

While the Swiss watch maker Swatch has gone for 100% foreign direct investment (FDI) route to open its own shops in India, Raymond Weil, another swiss watch brand in the luxury category is no mood to open its stores.

The company says that the 30% mandatory domestic sourcing requirement is impossible to fulfill for luxury watch makers as all of their products are manufactured in Switzerland.

Raymond Weil currently has six stores in India and plans to open four more by 2016. Its current stores in Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai work on the franchise model.

"India is country with a lot of complications in the tax and other laws. With the new government we hope that the Global Standard Taxation is brought soon and it becomes easier to do business in India," said Oliver Bernheim, President & CEO Raymond Weil.

The brand is present across 87 countries and gets less than 1% of its business from India. Delhi is the lead store that generates about 35% sales for the brand in India.

The company present in Indian since 1978 through dealer network opened its first store in 2011. The prices range from Rs 80,000 to up to Rs 3.5 lakh.

At a time when e-commerce business is booming in India, Raymond Weil is no mood to explore the online medium citing price undercutting as the problem.

"We have to maintain uniform prices globally and we will only sell online when any e-retailer with a high reputation assures of no price cutting online. But I don't see that happening in India," says Bernheim.

In a report, the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India had estimated the size of the Indian wristwatch market at $898 million; it had predicted the market would expand to $2.7 billion by 2020.