Mothercare plans to open 200 stores in India to capitalise on the world’s biggest baby population.

The retailer announced a joint venture yesterday with one of India’s biggest property companies and doubled its target for new stores in the country. Ben Gordon, chief executive, said: “It has the most babies born per annum — 23 million — in the world. It’s a country with great potential for us.”

Mothercare will own 30 per cent of a joint venture with DLF Brands, with an option to increase the stake to 51 per cent, subject to regulatory approval. India has been targeted by retailers including Wal-Mart, Carrefour and Tesco, the world’s three biggest. Marks & Spencer said this week that it intended to open 50 new stores in the country.

India has a rapidly expanding middle class and its GDP is forecast to grow by 5.9 per cent this year.

Mothercare, which has 671 overseas stores in 52 countries through franchises, already has 23 stores in a franchise with Shopper’s Stop, a department store group. About 80 per cent of Indian consumers are aware of the Mothercare brand, the company said. British brands have an advantage over other international suitors in India, because the links between the UK and the sub-continent give British companies greater recognition among Indian consumers, Mr Gordon said.

The world’s largest retail groups have long been circling India and are urging the Government to drop rules that prevent foreign companies owning multibrand retail operations.

India also levies a prohibitive import tax, which deters foreign retailers, but Mr Gordon said that the Indian stores would be stocked mainly with Indian-produced goods, side-stepping the import tax.

Mothercare also has a joint venture with its Chinese franchise. The joint ventures mean that the company will receive a share of profits as well as a royalty fee, in a sign of how attractive Mothercare finds the Chinese and Indian markets. By the end of the year it plans to have ten stores in China. Yesterday it announced that it would meet its target of opening 100 new international stores this year, and said that it was launching Mothercare in Australia and the Early Learning Centre in South Africa.

Mothercare’s sales rose 7 per cent, in the three months to October 10. WH Smith added its name yesterday to the list of British retailers entering the Indian market as it outlined plans to open six shops in Delhi airport.

Tesco and Booker, the wholesaler, have Indian wholesale joint ventures.

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