Mumbai,
June 2021
Ritu Kumar currently owns four verticals, Label, RI, Aarke and Ritu Kumar Residence. The design house was severly stymied with cash crunch, and has been trying to generate funds to facilitate growth. Reliance Manufacturers, a premium-to-luxury manufacturers operator of Reliance Retail, markets about 4 dozen international premium-to-luxury labels together with Burberry, Bally, Gasoline, Kate Spade, Diesel, Brooks Brothers and Steve Madden amongst different labels. A 2019 acquisition of smaller rival Genesis Luxurious gave Reliance Manufacturers sway over Salvatore Ferragamo, Jimmy Choo, Giorgio Armani, Michael Kors, Paul Smith amongst different famed labels.
A race appears to be on between Reliance brands and Aditya Birla Trend and Retail (ABFRL), where the former wants to dominate the business of luxury retail in India. Recently, ABFRL bought a 51% stake in Indian designer Sabyasachi’s namesake label. In 2019, ABFRL had acquired 51% stake in Finesse Worldwide Design, that runs bespoke attire retail model Shantanu & Nikhil, for ₹60 crore. This year it partnered with designer Tarun Tahiliani.