NEW DELHI, INDIA - Last year at this time, Mr Harkirat Singh, 40, who runs one of India's top shoe brands, was salivating at the thought of the approaching Deepavali festival and the marriage season.

'Almost two-thirds of the annual sales take place in the last quarter, so we had built up huge stocks. Then, everything just collapsed,' said the managing director of Aero Group, which makes the Woodland brand of shoes and clothing. 'We decided to go slow and watch.'

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Then, in January, Woodland did something unprecedented - it announced a 50 per cent discount sale. Customers thronged its stores, snapping up footwear and clothing.

Things slowed down for a while after the sale, but now the Aero group is sprinting along. New factories will soon come on stream and workers are being recruited. Existing stores are screaming for fresh stocks.

Overseas orders are pouring in as well, from the Middle East to Singapore. And this when the family-owned Aero has not been attending too many leather trade fairs.

Aero finished last year with sales of about 3.5 billion rupees (S$103 million), not much more than in the previous year. This year, it expects turnover to top 5 billion rupees.

RAVI VELLOOR

This article was first published in The Straits Times.