Bombay Swadeshi Stores Limited

iThe Bombay Store first store was founded by some of the greatest Indian patriots & business luminaries like Lokmanya Tilak and Ratanji Jamsetji Tata. The first store was inaugurated by Dadabhai Naoroji on 17th December 1906.

iiThe range is made diverse keeping in mind the customers’ wants and needs. From soft stone and marble artifacts of Agra to Pashmina shawls of Kashmir or Dokra art from Orissa to Kantha work bedsheets of Jaipur. Our store is a treasure trove of all things Indian. The broad categories that the company deals with are: Artefacts, Home Décor, Wellness & Fashion Accessories.

iiiIt buys finished handicrafts, home décor, furnishings, pashmina and wellness products from artisans and suppliers. It marks them up. It sells them across 30 stores in about 13 cities — Mumbai, Pune, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Kochi, Visakhapatnam and others.

ivThere's no factory. No manufacturing. In FY26 it bought ₹50.5 crore of merchandise and sold ₹100 crore worth. That's a gross margin of roughly 52% — and that gap is the entire business. Three things follow from this model. One — it's a landlord's business as much as a retailer's. Every one of those 30 stores is leased. Rent came to ₹14.8 crore, or about 15% of revenue, making it the single largest expense line after the cost of goods. Growth here means signing leases and fitting out stores, not buying real estate. Net fixed assets on the balance sheet are just ₹3.5 crore. Two — the money sits in inventory. Stock worth ₹22.4 crore is the biggest asset the company owns. Meanwhile receivables are almost nothing — ₹23 lakh — because people pay at the counter. Retail cash conversion at its most basic. Three — there's a quiet export business. Foreign exchange earnings were ₹17.8 crore, roughly 18% of revenue, coming from exports and foreign-currency counter sales. Tourists walking into a Colaba or Jaipur store are a real revenue line here. One more thing that's unusual. The company has no bank debt at all. The only borrowing is a ₹7 crore interest-free loan from a promoter-director. Total finance cost for the year: ₹23,000. Yes, thousand.