Chandigarh May 28, 2024: High Street Essentials (HSE), the parent company of renowned women’s fashion brands Indya and FabAlley, has raised INR 50 Crore in equity and debt infusion. The funding round was led by Mrs Sangita Jindal, Chairperson of JSW Foundation with participation from esteemed family offices of SRF Group, Krishna Bodanapu of Cyient Technologies and Timmy Sarna from Pure Home + Living.
This fund infusion enables Indya to undertake strategic business expansion of its premium occasion wear range “Weddings By Indya” and chart a growth roadmap for a significant play in the occasion and wedding wear market. “Weddings By Indya” is a curated collection catering to the discerning tastes of India’s vibrant wedding segment and offers meticulously crafted ensembles for various ceremonies. Indya is democratizing luxury fashion through strategic collaborations with well-known Indian designers including Rohit Gandhi + Rahul Khanna, Varun Bahl, Ashish N Soni, Nikhil Thampi, and these partnerships bring designer elegance to fashion enthusiasts at high street prices.
Commenting on her investment in Indya brand, Mrs Sangita Jindal, Chairperson of JSW Foundation said, “Indya’s core strength lies in their unique designs that cater to the Indian as well as global diaspora. Shivani & Anurag have built strong back-end capabilities and this investment will empower them to fuel Indya’s global expansion while allowing them to take a larger share of the vast Indian wedding wear market. Beyond the investment, we are both committed to take India’s heritage textile artistry to the global markets.”
The India wedding wear market is valued at US$ 15 billion. In order to capitalize on the growing wedding wear segment, Indya has plans to expand its business presence across the country with 10 new wedding stores in this financial year. Indya is currently retailed through 12 exclusive brand outlets in 8 cities, and 150 large format retail outlets, including Lifestyle, Shoppers Stop, Centro and Ethnicity. Its global retail footprint continues to expand with a second store in Malaysia with plans to also open outlets in USA and South Africa within the next 18 months. However, Indya’s largest volumes come from its international direct-to-consumer ecommerce business spanning more than 43 countries. With over 1.5 million customers globally, this business segment has posted a 50% year-on-year growth.
Shivani Poddar and Anurag Murali, the co-founders of HSE, commented, “We see an immense opportunity to build a strong presence for Wedding By Indya in the US$15 Billion wedding wear market, a large part of which is still unorganized. Backed by the unwavering support of our investors like Mrs Sangita Jindal, we are poised to aggressively expand, and build the biggest and most loved brand in the wedding wear industry.”
High Street Essentials posted EBITDA profitability in April 2024 and brand Indya has been growing at more than 30% YoY. In FY25, the company has set an aggressive target of achieving 50% YoY growth, while being PAT positive.
The key growth driver will continue to be the international ecommerce business. Indya will be expanding to new geographies while investing in on-ground brand & marketing initiatives. The other big leg of growth will come from Indya’s large wedding stores. Over the next few years, Indya plans to open 100+ wedding stores across the country.
For more than 30 years, Mrs Sangita Jindal and JSW Group have built symbiotic relationships between women entrepreneurs and traditional craft communities. Mrs Sangita Jindal’s team at JSW reaches out to thousands of woman artisans enabling them to develop meaningful collaborations and interventions for making their crafts contemporary. Beyond this investment, Indya also offers a strategic opportunity to collaborate with these artisans for sourcing & integrating India’s heritage designs in luxury wedding ensembles. Mrs Sangita Jindal along with Shivani Poddar & Anurag Murali are committed to take India’s heritage textile artistry to global markets.
