Grabbing attention

Jeans and shirts aren’t quite as important as quality innerwear, judging by the numbers posted by listed Indian apparel players. Page Industries and Lovable Lingerie kept up double-digit growth in sales volumes, even as others fell foul of consumers cutting discretionary spends. Lovable’s stock climbed 47 per cent before losing steam. Meanwhile, Page’s stock has rolled merrily to a 38 per cent gain.

Products of these two companies benefit from being more essential than apparel. A retail reach of thousands, as they stock with small hosiery shops, and introduction of low-priced lines to lure the cautious customer, too worked in their favour. Their premium consumer base makes them more immune to spending cuts.

Not quite a luxury, but not a necessity either, Dominos Pizza and Mainland China restaurant chains got a slice of consumers’ discretionary spends too. Stocks of Jubilant FoodWorks and Speciality Restaurants, which operate the two chains, in turn grabbed a good bit of market attention. Part of the premium accorded to these stocks could be on account of the lack of other players in the huge food segment.

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