WHILE Prime Minister David Cameron is today still assessing the effect of his delegation to India, York businessman Stuart Paver is the real man to ask about prospects of trade in the sub-continent.

Stuart, who heads up the York-based £70 million turnover Pavers shoe empire, has already been there, done that and starting to reap the profits.

He is president and chairman of Pavers England Footprints Ltd which now has about 100 stores all over India plus its own shoe factory making European-designed shoes, a research and development centre in Ambur and three warehouses in Delhi, Mumbai and Chennai.

From his UK head office at his £3 million high-tech distribution centre in Northminster Business Park, Poppleton, he has been celebrating the latest store-opening at Kendal, bringing the Pavers shoe empire in Britain to just under 100.

Mr Paver was in buoyant mood. He said: “I supopose we have been ahead of the game in India. It has been going according to plan. It was difficult for the first two years, but now as we become more established, we can see the light at the end of the tunnel.”

By which he means that having broken even after an initial $10 million investment, his Indian organisation is starting to make a small profit “and meanwhile we are continuing to grow. We are 400 per cent up on last year”.

This year alone he hopes to increase store numbers in India to 300, which includes concessions in stores, all selling the Pavers England brand.

“Next stop is consolidation and growth over the next decade. The plan is to have 1,000 stores and be much larger than in the UK, even though we are expanding here.”

It will also mean turnover for the Paver empire rising from £70 million to £300 million.

So Mr Paver was clearly delighted with the Prime Minister’s Indian trade drive and his aim to strengthen relations with India.

But then PM was also walking where Mr Pavers had already trod a careful and canny path in his shiny shoes, a fact recognised by his Yorkshire peers.

Earlier this year Pavers Ltd was named Best Overseas Investment 2010 in the Yorkshire Forward and UK Trade and Investment Going Global Awards, which are designed to recognise regional companies that are growing their business through international trade.

It was in recognition of Pavers heavily invested joint venture based in Mauritius allowing it to take advantage of the expanding Indian consumer market.

Speaking about the award and Mr Cameron’s mission, Mr Paver said: “We are only at the start of the journey. India provides an opportunity unparalleled in the world at the moment and Pavers are at the forefront of the retail revolution occurring there. “The success our company is enjoying, together with the British Government’s commitment to the Indian trade drive, we hope will be inspirational to other medium sized businesses”.

He said that Mr Cameron was right to be realistic about Britain’s role in world markets.

“We have to focus on our strengths in design, development and added value. We will never be the workshop of the world again. Things have changed.”

His advice to those entrepreneurs in York and North Yorkshire looking to link up with Indian business? “There is a great deal of sentimental attachment to the UK in the percepotion of most people. They are open to the message that we want to do more business.”



PAVERS is a traditional retailer of smart comfortable footwear founded by Stuart’s mother, Catherine Paver, nearly 40 years ago. It has grown into one of the most successful footwear retailers in the UK and one of the fastest growing and most profitable in Europe. Pavers believe the key to dominating an emerging market like India is to build a local responsive infrastructure that can rapidly feed the demands of the domestic market. It has heavily invested in building its infrastructure in India, from a research and development facility through to just-in-time manufacturing linked into a constant stream of retail data from its partners. Pavers is building a national distribution network with depots in Pondicherry, Delhi and shortly Mumbai effectively to supply its retail partners on a weekly and sometimes daily basis for key stores. The local norm is to work on two to four deliveries per year.

Pavers isnow seen as one of the best international brands in India and is frequently listed in the Indian press with top international footwear brands such as Jimmy Choo, Gucci and Prada.