At MFB, We Want To Bring In Brands Which Have Potential In India

Myntra and Jabong combined now account for a little over 1 percent of India’s $100 billion fashion and apparel industry with more than $1.2 billion in gross merchandise value (GMV) growing at over 50 percent in the last fiscal year…

- Surabhi Khosla

The Indian fashion industry today is ₹165 billion, growing at about 11 percent. The online industry itself is between $4 to 5 billion, which is equivalent to 4 percent penetration in comparison to the other parts of the world. In five years, the e-commerce industry will be at anywhere between $20 and 25 billion and there is a reasonable chance that almost half of the organised retail in the country will be somehow be powered through technology in e-commerce.

One company which has pioneered the growth of fashion in India and is here to stay is Flipkart-owned Myntra. Myntra and Jabong combined now account for a little over one percent of India’s $100 billion fashion and apparel industry with more than $1.2 billion in gross merchandise value (GMV) growing at over 50 percent in the last fiscal year. It’s private brand business, Myntra Fashion Brands (MFB), is gaining in scale and Head MFB, Manohar Kamath is bullish on maintaining growth and expansion rates.

In an exclusive interview with IMAGES Retail, Kamath talks about MFB’s plans to open more Roadster experience stores and bring in more international brands like Mango and Esprit to India. Edited excerpts:

Tell us about your journey with Myntra. I joined Myntra a year-and a-half ago and I lead MFB, which is a private brand business for the company. It’s a very exciting business, nothing like what I have been exposed to in my 24-year stint before I came on board here. We use a lot of technology. Our mission statement is ‘democratizing fashion through technology and making people look good’. The MFB journey is to make this mission statement a reality, essentially by making fast fashion a way of life in India. MFB typically delivers 1,600 fashion styles every single week on the platform for the consumer.