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MUMBAI, May 20 (Reuters) - Britain's largest clothingretailer Marks & Spencer on Tuesday said it will open ahundred stores in India by 2016 instead of 86 as planned lastyear.
The clothing retailer, which runs 40 stores in the country,said its Indian same-store-sales grew 13 percent in the fiscalyear ended March 2014.
Same-stores-sales is a key performance metric for retailersand measures sales growth at stores open for more than a year.Comparative figures from a year earlier were not available.
Three years ago, M&S identified India as a priority marketand Chief Executive Marc Bolland last year said the companyplanned to offer more stylish and fashionable clothes to Indiansafter years of struggling with brand positioning in the country.
M&S faces tough competition in India from the world'sbiggest fashion retailer Inditex SA and its Zara brand.
Marks & Spencer operates in India in a joint venture withReliance Retail, a unit of billionaire Mukesh Ambani's RelianceIndustries.
"Together with our partner Reliance Retail, we arecontinuing to invest into accelerating our growth in India as webuild a leadership position in the market," said Venu Nair,Managing Director of Marks & Spencer Reliance India. (Reporting by Nandita Bose; Editing by Anupama Dwivedi)
