Mothercare has signed a new joint venture with DLF Brands to further its expansion plans in India.

The venture, which will run alongside its current agreement with Shopper’s Stop, will accelerate its plans for the region. The nursery specialist is now targeting 200 Mothercare stores in the country, double its initial 100-store aim.

Mothercare will initially own 30% of the venture with DLF but has the option in the future to increase its shareholding to 51%.

The agreement is conditional upon approval from the Foreign Investment Promotion Board.

Through DLF it will open stand alone stores and will continue with Shopper’s Stop to roll out shop-in-shops in department stores.

Mothercare chief executive Ben Gordon said: “We are very excited to announce today that we have partnered with DLF to further develop our standalone store presence in India for the Mothercare brand.

“Over the past three years, we have opened 23 successful Mothercare stores with Shopper’s Stop which have been well received by our customers. We look forward to working with DLF and Shopper’s Stop to accelerate our expansion and develop a stronger presence in the Indian market.”

Mothercare now has over 1,000 stores in 51 countries. In its first half to October 10 total group sales were up 8.2% with international like-for-like sales ahead 1%.

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