Lifestyle bag and travel luggage manufacturer Samsonite South Asia will invest Rs 160 crore towards the second phase of expansion at its Nashik plant.

It will utilise surplus land spanning 1,80,000 sq. ft., and construction work is expected to commence by the end of 2023. A planned investment of Rs 110-115 crore will be made for hard luggage manufacturing capacity and Rs 45 crore for automated warehousing.

The expansion will enable capacity increase from five lakh pieces a month to 7.5 lakh pieces by end of next year, and finally to 10 lakh pieces a month, for which the viability of other states for new factories will be explored.

Samsonite recently opened a retail outlet in Darbhanga, Bihar, with further plans for store launches in Katihar and Muzaffarpur in the state as well. While the company-owned store count will go up to 65, an overall presence with a network of 600 retail stores is targeted by 2023-end.

The travel luggage industry is likely to grow to Rs one lakh crore in the next 10 years, with the expected entry of new players.