MUMBAI: Parisian luxury department store Galeries Lafayette is tapping India for growth, a market it said lacks luxury retail avenues for high spending consumers who shop for a spate of labels across pricey fashion houses and shopping stores abroad.The retailer’s flagship store in Paris’s Boulevard Haussmann is the second most-visited tourist spot in the French capital after Eiffel Tower and attracts 35 million visitors a year, half of which are foreigners.Galeries Lafayette, which is launching in India through partnership with the Aditya Birla Group, will open its first store in Mumbai early next month, after eight years of studying the local market and consumer nuances.“India is a key and strategic country. It also has great opportunities in terms of growth. Indian consumers are already very interested in buying luxury brands and products. They consume them not only in India but also abroad — Dubai, Singapore, the UK, Paris and especially in Galeries Lafayette. Clearly, there is a lack of offer inside India…there are no (luxury) department stores here,” Galeries Lafayette CEO Arthur Lemoine, told TOI in an interview here.The India foray, announced three years back, comes at a time when US tariff turmoil has clouded global growth prospects, nudging companies to review strategies.Of the 67 Galeries Lafayette stores globally, 58 are in home market France with the rest of the nine outlets spread across Asia including China, Indonesia and Dubai.The luxury brand has stitched a 20-year licensing agreement with the Aditya Birla Group. “Beyond the year which are written in the contract, we are here to build the future together,” said Lemoine. The four-storey department store in south Mumbai will house a broad range of global products — from bags to beauty, apparel and accessories. From a Rs 25-lakh bag to a Rs 3,000 lipstick, the idea is to cater to the luxury consumers but also tapping into the premium cohort who are willing to upgrade to high-end brands.“Luxury in our country today stands at the threshold of transformation,” said Aditya Birla Group chairman Kumar Mangalam Birla, adding that “In the span of less than a decade, the market is set to grow over four-fold from $20 billion to almost $90 billion by 2030.”The brand play will be omni-channel to give access to a wider set of affluent consumers, many of whom are sitting in non-metros. “In India, we have pockets of consumption all across the country,” said R Sathyajit, CEO, international brands at Aditya Birla Fashion & Retail adding that the company’s own website will be launched in a couple of months.Delhi will house the next Galeries Lafayette store. Currently, the assortment at the store is global with a tilt towards French and Parisian brands. “Over a period of time, we would also like to be a platform for emerging designers in India as well. The beauty of a department store is that it evolves with time, reflecting changing generations, tastes,” Sathyajit said.

A company linked to Baroness Michelle Mone has failed to meet a deadline to repay £122m for breaching a Covid-19 personal protective equipment (PPE) contract.

The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) won a legal case earlier this month against PPE Medpro, a consortium led by Lady Mone’s husband Doug Barrowman, over claims the PPE did not comply with relevant healthcare standards.

A High Court judge ruled some of the company’s gowns they supplied were not “sterile”.

Health and Social Care Secretary Wes Streeting said the government would “pursue PPE Medpro with everything we’ve got to get these funds back” after the company failed to pay the damages cost by 16:00 BST on Wednesday.

PPE Medpro entered administration on 30 September, the day before the court judgement.

Streeting said: “At a time of national crisis, PPE Medpro sold the previous government substandard kit and pocketed taxpayers’ hard-earned cash.

“PPE Medpro has failed to meet the deadline to pay – they still owe us over £145 million, with interest now accruing daily.”

The firm was ordered to pay interest of £23.6m, which means the total sum owed is £145.6m.

According to the DHSC, this sum will accrue interest at 8% per year from Thursday until it is fully paid.

Forvis Mazars, one of the joint administrators appointed to take control of the business and recover money owed to creditors, declined to comment.

The National Crime Agency (NCA) previously said it was investigating the PPE Medpro case.

Mr Barrowman’s spokesman had said £83m of the government deal was paid to other companies but it is unclear whether they are being looked at by the NCA.

PPE Medpro was awarded a government contract in 2020 to supply PPE after being recommended by Baroness Mone.

However, after ordering 25 million sterile gowns from PPE Medpro, the government later launched legal action in 2022 through the High Court, claiming the gowns did not comply with the agreed contract.

PPE Medpro argued it had complied with the contract and that the gowns were sterile.

According to the company’s most recent accounts for the period ending 31 July, the business had £666,025 in net assets.

The document filed to Companies House also mentioned how the firm had used about £4.2m in reserves to fight the legal dispute.

Since the court judgement, Baroness Mone has faced cross-party calls for her to be stripped of her peerage.

However, peerages can only be removed by an act of Parliament.