Nuance enters agreement with Indian retailer

John Rimmer

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The retailer has set up a 50:50 joint venture with domestic retailer Shoppers' Stop with a view to submitting bids in the upcoming wave of Indian airport tenders

The agreement was signed today in Hyderabad, where several international retailers are presenting proposals to the manager of the city's new airport, GMR Group, as it tenders the airport's duty-free business. Nuance has highlighted India as one of its "key strategic expansion areas".

Shoppers' Stop runs 20 stores across India and is owned by the K Rahela Corp. Its wholly-owned subsidiary Crossword operates news, books, toys and gifts stores at 33 locations. Earlier this year K Rahela Corp opened India's biggest hypermarket, Hypercity, in Mumbai.

Nuance vice-president business development and strategic marketing Carlo Bernasconi said: "The signing of this memorandum of understanding with Shoppers' Stop is a first milestone for The Nuance Group's entry into the dynamic growth market of India. We are convinced that together we will be able to create a truly unique offer perfectly tailored to the needs of the customers at Indian airports."  

Shoppers' Stop managing director BS Nagesh added: "We believe with this partnership we will extend our unique shopping experience to airports and touch the lives of millions of travellers. This will also help us create a larger footprint across the country."
 
Nuance will hope its move will help it to compete for contracts in the new airports of Hyderabad and Bangalore, plus the recently-privatised hubs of Delhi and Mumbai. The joint venture also helps the retailer meet any government demands for joint Indian and foreign ownership of the winning bidders.