With an investment of Rs 45 crore, Blackberry will set up 15 of its 50 excluive stores in south India, each spread  over 1,500 sq ft.

While the front-end investment on each outlet will be Rs 15 crore, another Rs 30 crore will be spent on back-end support and infrastructure, said Badal Chaudhry, General Manager -- Sales, Blackberrys. Each outlet will stock merchandise with a minimum inventory value of Rs 20 lakh.

The company has 22 branded stores in India and operates largely through 400 multi-branded stores, which contributed 60% of its Rs 85 crore turnover in 2006. About 51 large-format stores like Westside, Shopper's Stop and Lifestyle, add another 20 per cent of Blackberry's revenues with branded stores contributing the remainder.

Sales through Westside stores alone accounted for Rs 2.5 crore of in the fiscal 2006. Chaudhry declined to comment on any specific marketing plans under the Blackberry brandname. The southern expansion will mean more Blackberrys branded stores and a greater presence in the multi-branded outlets there.

Chaudhry said the company had chalked out a major expansion plan in 2006 for vertical and horizontal growth. "We are today the biggest brand in the premium trouser category" said Chaudhry.

"Our scope of activity now extends from formal jackets to formal and semi-formal trouser ranges with annual sales of 7.5 lakh trousers in fiscal 2006."

Blackberrys has been operating at pricepoints between Rs 1,095 and Rs 1,795 on its trouser range. The company touched daily production capacity of 3,000 trousers and 300 blazers/jackets in 2006. In 2007, it will up this to 4,000 trousers and 450 jackets a day. Revenues for the fiscal ending March 31, 2007 are expected to touch Rs 120 crore.

A major incentive for Blackberrys to stay away from the shirtings market is that the 'fit' provided by the trouser market, both brandwise and consumerwise, is quite strong, Chaudhry said. "Anybody can buy you a shirt, but not a trouser. This has helped us position the trouser brand better."

Blackberrys also unveiled its B&B collection of premium trousers priced at between Rs 2,195 and Rs 5,195.