Understanding The Silk Legacy: Lavanya Nalli, Nalli Group

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Lavanya Nalli is the first woman in her family to join the 90-year-old legacy sari business. An engineer by training, she started her career at Nalli in 2005 and worked there for four years before moving to the US to do her MBA at Harvard Business School. She worked as a consultant with McKinsey in Chicago and as vice-president at Myntra before returning to Nalli on the condition that she will be given complete autonomy to build the brand’s ecommerce venture.

The Bengaluru office houses Nalli’s e-commerce unit. She heads merchandising and marketing for e-commerce and digital, and design of the Nalli label for the whole group.

Growing up in the Nalli household meant she was introduced to the family business early. But while she enjoyed being on the shop floor, joining the family business was never the plan. Though she wanted to be a journalist, her father suggested she explore the science stream or engineering as she was strong in math, physics and chemistry. 

 

Her first tryst with Nalli was when she joined the business as an intern, when she was in the third year of her bachelor’s in computer science at Anna University. During the three-month period, she worked on the supply chain side and was intrigued by it. She also worked in the sales, marketing and consumer side. She then continued to work at Nalli post her graduation for four years, until 2009.

 

During this tenure, the Nalli scion demonstrated not just her enthusiasm for work, but also an astute business mind. In addition to increasing the store count from 14 to 21, she was instrumental in significantly increasing revenues by expanding the product range and stores. She also made a key observation – that very often, customers buying their sarees were older women. Their younger companions – sister or daughter – would seldom buy one. Upon asking, they told her that ‘my mom wears these kinds of sarees. I don’t think Nalli has my style.’ Back then, younger companions would often ask for designer sarees. Immediately, Lavanya would send the sales boy and he would come back with a whole batch of designer range. Every single time, the younger companion would be surprised. “We had the products but there was a strong perception gap. Younger women feel it is too old-fashioned, like the classic Kanjeevaram sari. Breaking that perception and catering to two different generations of women in the same format was also very difficult,” she explains. While they experimented having a separate section within the store, it was eventually spun off into a separate store format called Nalli Next in 2007.

Lavanya Nalli distinctly remembers her childhood years spent at her ancestral home in Chennai. Located right above Nalli’s flagship store (opened in 1928), opposite Panagal Park. Lavanyarecalls  duringa conversation, a curious Lavanya remembers asking her grandfather, NalliKuppuswamiChetti, why the Nalli store has so many loyal customers. He responded that during World War 2, Madras was under threat of being bombed so most of the traders and merchants shut shop and went back to their native places. But her great grandfather, NalliChinnasamiChetti, had resolved to not leave the city as he believed the city needs them.

 

Consequently, if people had to get a towel or handkerchief, they had to come all the way to the Nalli store. “There was a lot of goodwill that we garnered at the time. Out of necessity people were forced to come to us. But those customers stayed on when they recognised the quality of the product,” says Lavanya with a smile.Lavanya started her career with the Nalli Group – a $100M national retail chain – focusing on new business development and growth opportunities, retail store operations, and private-label. She launched a sub-brand “Nalli Next” that penetrated untapped markets, and incubated a venture that empowered artisanal communities by bringing design-led products to market.

Nalli Silks registered an annual revenue of ₹750 crores before COVID-19 struck. On the other hand, the e-commerce business “tripled in growth in the last fiscal,” she affirms. The brand which has weaving clusters across the length and breadth of the country currently works with 9,000 entities, of which 2,000-3,000 are constantly active. “From many, we buy up their entire production capacity and provide design inputs,” says Lavanya. 

 

Over the last few decades, Nalli Silks evolved from the once narrow merchandise category of silk saris from South India to stock weaves from across the country. Zari Banarasis to light printed georgettes and crepes, double Ikat Patolas to hand¬painted muga silks, delicate tanchois to sturdy tangails—no weaving repertoire left unattended. And now, as Lavanya emphasises, Nalli sells dupattas, stoles, pure pashmina shawls, ready to wear garments for men and women, stitched or semi-stitched blouses, yardage, kidswear, pattupavadai (half-sari) and other accessories. The sari range has flexed too—from embroidered Parsi gara saris to fine, modern linens woven in metallic yarns. 

 

Till date, the 40 odd stores across the country sell an average of 4,000-4,500 saris a day. Bridal Kanjeevarams continue to reign as the most-sought after category.And it is this commitment that she carries forward as she spearheads the Rs. 7 billion Nalli Silk Sarees as the vice chairperson, handling its e-commerce and private label business. Her father, Ramnath Nalli, oversees operations, exports and off-line stores while her younger brother, NiranthNalli, handles the jewellery arm which was launched in 2012. Lavanya is the first woman in the family to join the business and has made significant contribution to scaling it up.