Gitanjali, the Mumbai based jewelry firm has acquired a 70% stake in the mobile retail chain Mobile NXT Teleservices Pvt Ltd a Bangalore based firm. The purchase was made by Gitanjali Lifestyle Ltd a subsidiary of the Gitanjali Group. Gitanjali is a Diamond Trading Company (DTC) sightholder.
MobileNXT will be re-branded ‘Hoop’ and additional items such as watches, eye wear and fashion jewelry will be retailed through Hoop. MobileNXT which was founded by Vijay Menon (CEO) and Romy Juneja (COO) has 21 stores in South India.
The Indian mobile market is estimated to be a Rs 50,000 crore industry, which has attracted a lot of investors lately.
Gitanjali reported a 6.29% decline in its annual net profits. Net profit in the fiscal year ending March 31 2009 was $31.1 million. However net sales rose from US$ 1.00 billion to US$ 1.03 billion.