By Nikhil Pahwa and Apurva Venkat Textile retailer Arvind Limited had invested over $ 10 million in Arvind Internet, which is the e-commerce division of the company, in its last financial year ended 31st March 2017 (FY17). The company in its Q4 results said that e-commerce had been the fastest growing channel for the company in FY17, albeit "on a smaller base". Arvind’s brands include Flying Machine and Excalibur, and it also has rights to sell global brands like Nautica, Calvin Klein, Gap, Tommy Hilfiger, Gant, Arrow, and US Polo Association amongst others. It has a 50% joint venture with Tommy Hilfiger. In May last year, the company had launched its omni-channel initiative NNNow.com, and it also owns Creyate.com, which was launched in August 2014. It also plans to launch its Mega Mart (now branded as Unlimited) stores online. While the company did not disclose the operating costs of the Arvind Internet unit, it said that investments in the business will taper off this year, and expects that this investment will reduce by 20-25% in FY18. Even in the previous earnings call, Arvind Ltd pointed towards heavy investments in its online business as a reason for reduction in EBITDA margins. At that time, the company had said that the year-to-date investment in the business had been Rs 50-52 crores. Last quarter, Jayesh Shah, Director and Group CFO of Arvind had said that the company expected a loss of Rs 70-72 crores in the business during FY17, but predicted that loss would reduce to Rs 10-15 crores in FY18,…
