Indian lifestyle retailer Planet Retail which carries a portfolio of international apparel and accessory brands in India is putting its expansion plans on hold citing sluggish sales and weaker economy.

Planet Retail currently has 80 stores in India and planned to reach 300 stores by 2014. But now it says it will scale back, trimming its investment to Rs200 crore (around US$40 million).

“The plan now is to restructure and reduce the pace of expansion across our brands and recast investment plans to half,” said chairman Ramesh Tainwala.

“Macro-environment issues such as the rupee’s depreciation, weak retail sales in the last two quarters were not at par with expectations for most premium brands and the entry of FDI in the retail sector not happening anytime soon are some of the reasons that forced us to restructure our business,” said Tainwala.

Planet Retail plans to focus on brands with wider customer base including Debenhams and Accessorize.

Other brands in its portfolio such Guess and Next will undergo an evaluation before further expansion.

“We will consolidate our brand portfolio and exit one or two brands if required,” said Tainwala.

GB