Swedish fast fashion retailer Hennes & Mauritz AB (H&M) will open four new stores this month, all of them in new cities, the firm said in a statement on Wednesday. H&M is opening stores in Indore on 16 September, in Coimbatore on 22 September, in Kolkata on 23 September and in Amritsar on 30 September, the statement added. Together, these stores will add 75,000 sq. ft of retail space for H&M in India.

The company said it will end 2017 with more than 25 stores in India. The new stores, on average smaller than the ones in Delhi and Mumbai, will be opened in malls and high street shopping centres in the four cities.

“Our expansion strategy is to always open at the best business location, and we look at many different options at the same time," a company spokesperson said in response to a questionnaire. “H&M is currently operating stores in Mumbai, Delhi-NCR, Mohali, Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad and Pune. We also believe there is a huge opportunity in the tier-II and tier-III markets to open stores and will continue our endeavours towards the same." There are 17 H&M stores in India currently. The company has planned investments worth €100 million (Rs765 crore) in the country, the statement said.

H&M recorded sales worth 606 million Swedish krona (Rs489.10 crore) in India in 2016. This was up 87% year on year, as it opened 10 new stores during the year, as per the company’s latest annual report.

Among its biggest rivals in India are Spanish fast fashion retailer Zara brought to India in a joint venture with Tata’s retail firm Trent Ltd. Zara had sales of Rs1,023.10 crore in FY2016-17, according to Trent Ltd’s latest annual report.

Another close competitor is American fast fashion retailer Forever 21, licensed by the Aditya Birla Group.

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