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Trent, the Tata Group’s fashion retailer, reported a 22 per cent rise in quarterly revenue to ₹5,873 crore on 29 October, and a 25 per cent jump in profit. It did this in a quarter that missed Navratri entirely, because the festival started 19 days later this year. Its value chain Zudio closed September with 999 stores.

Two women shopping for clothes in a store

The numbers

For the July–September quarter, Trent’s consolidated revenue from operations rose 22 per cent to ₹5,873 crore and net profit rose 25 per cent to ₹468 crore, up from ₹373 crore a year earlier. Operating EBITDA grew faster than sales, up 37 per cent to ₹785 crore. Operating EBIT margin improved to 11.6 per cent from 10.5 per cent.

The standalone business, which holds Westside and Zudio, posted revenue of ₹5,788 crore, up 23 per cent. Its profit after tax rose only 9 per cent to ₹490 crore. That gap has a simple explanation: the same quarter last year included ₹96 crore of pre-tax profit from asset sales, and there was no such one-off this time.

Chairman Noel N Tata said the company’s brands saw “solid traction” and that “consumer sentiment was more robust” despite an inflationary backdrop.

A festive quarter without the festival

The calendar matters a great deal in Indian apparel. Navratri began on 22 September in 2025 but only on 11 October in 2026, according to V-Mart Retail’s quarterly update. So last year’s September quarter caught the start of festive shopping, and this year’s did not.

The base was tougher for another reason. Last year’s festive season opened alongside the GST cut that took effect on 22 September 2025, which reduced the tax on readymade garments priced up to ₹2,500 a piece to 5 per cent.

Other retailers show how much the shift hurt reported numbers. V-Mart’s revenue rose 18 per cent to ₹953 crore, but its same-store sales grew just 3 per cent. Adjusted for the festive calendar, the company put that figure at 11 per cent. Nykaa told the exchanges in October that “some festive demand has moved from Q2 to Q3 this year”. Against that backdrop, Trent’s 23 per cent standalone growth stands out.

How Zudio got to 999

Trent’s count put Zudio at 999 stores on 30 September, including seven in the UAE. During the quarter it opened 19 Zudio stores, including its 1,000th, and consolidated two. Four years ago, at the end of FY22, Zudio had 233 stores. By March 2026 it had 963 in India across 310 cities, plus three in the UAE.

The format is built to be repeatable. A typical Zudio store is about 10,000–12,000 sq ft and needs roughly ₹3–4 crore of capital, including capital expenditure, deposits and inventory, according to figures reported by BW Retail World. More than 80 per cent of new outlets in FY26 opened in tier 2 and 3 cities or in the outskirts of tier 1 cities. Trent has said the brand deliberately avoids heavy discounting and big marketing budgets.

For scale, Westside, Trent’s other main fashion chain, had 311 stores at the end of September after adding 10 in the quarter. Across all its fashion formats, Trent now runs more than 18.5 million sq ft of retail space in 339 cities.

The slowdown inside the growth

One number deserves more attention than the 1,000-store milestone. Zudio added 208 stores in India in FY26, according to the company’s annual report as cited by BW Retail World. In the first half of FY27, its net addition was 36. The two figures are not measured identically, since one counts openings and the other is net of closures and consolidations, but the slowdown in new stores is clear.

That means more of Trent’s growth now has to come from existing stores and new categories. Beauty and personal care, innerwear and footwear together made up more than 21 per cent of standalone revenue in the quarter. Westside’s online revenue grew 20 per cent in the first half and is now more than 6 per cent of the brand’s sales. Outside fashion, Trent’s Star chain has 87 stores in 13 cities and grew revenue by more than 20 per cent, with own brands making up more than 74 per cent of its sales.

Rising margins on slower store growth is a healthy sign for a retailer. It also means the next phase cannot simply be more of the same store.

What to watch

The October–December quarter. With Navratri and the bulk of festive and wedding-season shopping falling in it, Q3 is where the calendar shift should reverse. If Trent’s growth does not speed up from 22 per cent, the strong Q2 will look less impressive in hindsight.

A new chairman. Noel Tata retires as chairman on 11 November on turning 70, and Bahram Vakil takes over from 12 November. Tata joined Trent’s board in 1998 and became its first managing director in 1999.

The online rivals. Nykaa guided for fashion net sales value growth in the late forties per cent for the September quarter. Its full results will show whether online fashion is growing faster than the store chains.