Gautam Singhania inaugurates India Fashion Forum 2009

The India Fashion Forum 2009 (IFF), saw distinguished national and international speakers. Speaking on the first day of IFF Kishore Biyani, CEO, Future Group, emphasised that the need of the hour for retailers was to create and sustain demand. "India is a market catering to an emerging fashion that is recession proof.

The new mantra for business is to make money by returning to the basics and inducing consumer buying patterns. The pace of expansion is relatively slower as product creation is not a pre-requisite anymore. One needs to focus on facilitating a strong distributory network which according to me implies product innovation."

He further added, "Indian fashion is heterogeneous and we need unified thought leadership that can be created by producing fashion that speaks the language of the masses like jeans or salwar kameez, and that is why we explored 'Ethnicity', the retail shop which caters specifically to ethnic wear from across the Indian region, in our private brands which has shown a 40 per cent increase in sales compared to other brands in our retail formats over the year."

The forum was anchored by Anish Trivedi, chairman and MD, Banyan Tree Communications and Jayant Kochar, MD, Go Fish Retail Solutions, the panel also included Rajive Ranjan, MD, Wehmyer Lifestyle, Germany and Sudhir Dhingra, Chairman, Orient Craft.

Speaking at the inaugural session, Gautam Singhania chairman, IFF '09 and chairman and managing director, Raymond Ltd, said, "India will grow at a steady rate of 7-8 per cent in the following year. A fundamental change in lifestyle patterns has given birth to a generation that is cost-conscious and gives more product per rupee instead of more marketing per rupee."

Speaking on the topic, "India: The Big Hope for the World", Rajiv Ranjan, MD, Wehmeyer Lifestyle, Germany, said, "Mainstream brands should reach to smaller cities. India should map international opportunities in a shorter span of time, the way foreign brands have done in India."