This story is from December 18, 2006

Duty-free shops come to town

Byas Anand / TNN / Dec 18, 2006, 01:41 IST

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Duty free shops are stepping out of airports and coming to town.

NEW DELHI: Duty free shops are stepping out of airports and coming to town. The state-owned India Tourism Development Corp is close to finalising deals to set up downtown duty free shops — outlets in the heart of the city to retail branded imported liquor, cigarettes, fashion apparels, cosmetics and personal care products.
This will, in a way, also mark ITDC's foray into the retail market.Sources close to the development told The Times of India the ITDC is close to finalising the deal to set up its first downtown duty free shop at Hotel Janpath in Connaught Place.
"The Janpath duty free shop will be the first downtown outlet. This would later be extended to more outlets within the city," a source said. The clientele for these downtown shops will, however, be limited to just overseas travellers, embassies and expatriates.
"Not every average Indian would be able to shop at these outlets as shopping here would be restricted to the same clientele that shops at airport duty free outlets. Embassies, foreigners visiting India and Indians with a valid visa and other travel documents will be able to shop at these outlets," a source said.

ITDC is currently in talks with fashion brands the world over to vend their apparels and cosmetics at these outlets. "ITDC duty free outlets — with a huge stock of cigarettes and liquor — have generally been known to cater a very male audience. With these downtown outlets, the firm is looking at shifting to a very female audience and hence, the move to woo fashion brands," the source added.
In addition to heading for the city, ITDC is planning to step into sea ports with its duty free outlets. "We are now getting ready to bid for duty free contracts at sea ports, which will be the next big opportunity after airports. We are tapping this segment and hope to establish our presence across all sea ports in the country next year," the source added.
Negotiations are also underway to establish duty-paid shops at Mumbai, Guwahati and Bodh Gaya airports. This rapid expansion comes at a time when ITDC is witnessing a sharp surge in its revenue. Its income for the current fiscal till November stood at Rs 291.54 crore, a 30.52% growth over the Rs 223.90 crore earned a year earlier. Net profit for the period was over 250% higher at Rs 31.45 crore.

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