India’s dynamic retail sector has always been an indicator of the country’s economy contributing nearly 10% of the Indian GDP. So which are the industries and brands that are contributing to Indian retail industry’s growth?

In a broad sense, one of the highlights in the Indian retail space is the growth of the value format. According to a report by Wazir Advisors, cited in media, India’s value retail market, excluding food and grocery, is likely to surge to $170 billion by 2026 from $111 billion in FY23. This segment is set to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 15% between 2023 and 2026, surpassing the overall retail sector’s expected 10% CAGR, which is projected to reach $1,219 billion by FY26.

Meanwhile, here is a broad list of brands across categories based on their retail expansion announcements.

Fashion & Apparels

Apparel in particular, leads the value retail category, followed by furniture, beauty and personal care, and footwear, according to reports.

So here’s a look at brands leading the expansion drive in the fashion and apparels space, many of whom represent value fashion.

Snitch: The men’s fast fashion brand recently announced the opening of its 11th store in Bengaluru at M5 City Mall, marking its 46th store nationwide and sharing plans to reach 100 stores across India by the end of FY 2025.

Zudio: Trent Ltd’s value apparel format Zudio reportedly opened 203 new stores during fiscal 2024, while entering 46 new cities during the year, taking the total number of stores to 545. Going by its current trend, it is all set to expand further with its large format stores.

AZORTE: The fashion retail brand from Reliance Retail, which has been a forerunner in tech driven retail formats, recently opened 3 stores in 3 days two in Bengaluru and one in Guwahati. With 21 stores already in operation, the brand looks all poised to expand further.

Decathlon: The leading global sports accessories brand recently opened its flagship store at Phoenix Marketcity, Mumbai, taking the total store count of the brand in the country to 132 and announcing further expansion plans.

Cantabil: The retail brand, which has a total store count of 569, announced the opening of 13 new stores across various cities last October and its further expansion plans, strengthening its already existing presence across 20 states and 272 cities in India.

Big Hello: The specialty fashion brand for plus sized people, which recently opened at Phoenix United Mall, Luckno marking its expansion in North India, said it planned to open 50 new stores this financial year as part of a dedicated national retail expansion strategy.

New Balance: The American comfort fashion brand has been on an expansion mode, spreading its footprint across the country right from Chennai and Hyderabad in the South,to Mumbai and Pune in the West and Jalandhar in the North, among other cities.

MiniKlub: This baby wear brand having its presence in 26 cities and 450 plus multi-brand outlets, with 58 exclusive brand stores has been on a major expansion mode.

The Bear House: The menswear brand specializing in smart work casuals, which recently launched its first-ever offline store in Delhi, a shop-in-shop at the ‘Broadway’ in Ambience Mall, has announced that it is accelerating its offline expansion with plans to open six new stores by the end of calendar year 2025.

Beauty and cosmetics

SSBeauty: The beauty retail brand from Shoppers Stop has been steadily increasing its physical presence with 14 stores as of last year. The brand also recently launched its first exclusive fragrance store at Nexus Mall, Koramangala, Bengaluru. Incidentally, beauty has been the top performing category for Shoppers Stop.

Nykaa: A brand that has become synonymous with omnichannel beauty retailing, Nykaa was pretty quick to cash in on offline presence and has been meticulously building its physical retail presence. The brand recently launched its first-ever Nykaa Luxe store in Chennai marking its sixth store in the city. As of March last year, the brand had a physical retail footprint of 187 stores across 68 cities.

Recode studios: Another beauty retail brand that has been fast carving it retail presence, across the country, having recently opened its store at Guwahati in the North East. The company had announced last year that it aimed to achieve a turnover of ₹50 crore, by the end of the fiscal year with a goal of increasing its retail footprint to a total of 25 stores.

There are other brands too like MARS Cosmetics which are fast building their brick and mortar presence in the beauty segment.

Jewellery

Titan: The company from the Tata Group had said last year that as part of aggressive retail footprint expansion of its four jewellery brands, it would add another 140 to 150 stores during FY24. As of last year, the jewellery vertical of the company had around 750 stores across the country. Titan operates jewellery brands that include Tanishq, Mia, CaratLane, and Zoya.

Malabar Gold and Diamonds: The brand has been on a global expansion spree, with a total of 370 showrooms across 13 countries, including India, the Middle East, the USA, the UK, Canada, and Australia. The brand launched its 28th outlet in Maharashtra last year at the R City Mall in Ghatkopar, Mumbai.

Some of the other prominent brands that have been expanding their retail presence include Gargil, Kalyan and Debeers.

Footwear

In the footwear category, brands like Bata, Metro brands, Relaxo and regional brands like
My VKC have been expanding their store fooprint. Bata, while sharing its financial results, had highlighted its retail expansion drive and its network of 1955 (COCO and Franchise) stores, that added to the bottomline.

QSRs
The Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) segment reportedly accounts for the largest share of the Indian restaurant industry with the market valued at $25.46 billion in 2024 and projected to reach $38.71 billion by 2029, growing at a CAGR of 8.74%.

Some of the fast expanding players include:

Subway: The brand is reportedly aiming to double its presence in India, expanding its store count from 850 to 1,700 locations.

McDonald’s: The iconic chain, which is already omnipresent in the country, has been upbeat about the North East in India, having launched a new outlet at Siliguri this month. McDonald’s India North and East alone operates nearly 245 restaurants and employs over 6,000 people, and has been building its presence in the North East,

California Burrito: The leading fast-casual Mexican restaurant in India, just opened its 100th store in Bengaluru and has said that it aims to expand to 300 stores by 2030, including new locations in Mumbai and Pune.

Home grown QSR brands like Burger Singh have also been scaling their retail presence. The ‘Made-in-India’ burger chain, which was quite focused on Madhya Pradesh, announced its plans to establish 22 new outlets in multiple cities last year.

Some of the other categories to watch out for in terms of their retail expansion include home decor & improvement, Electronics, Duty-Free, Wellness & Personal care and Specialty/Premium Grocery. The last one in particular has brands like The Organic World (TOW), which has been on an expansion spree. Having built its presence in Bengaluru, the retail chain recently expanded to Mysore and announced plans to open stores in other key high-potential cities and towns across India including Pune, Coimbatore, Chennai and Delhi.

Well, there is certainly a lot to look out for in the coming days in the Indian retail space.