The countrys largest gold and diamond jewellery retailer Malabar Group is planning to invest around Rs. 1,000 crore for expansion, mostly overseas, this year to take its store counts to 200 by December.

The Kozhikode-based Malabar Gold & Diamonds said a large chunk of this new capex will be spent overseas, which involves debutting into Hong Kong, Indonesia and Sri Lanka.

"The first phase of expansion, which is already underway, will have us investing Rs. 620 crore on 24 more stores. Out of this 14 have already been opened since January, 13 of them in the Gulf, which is our largest market in temrs of revenue and one in Bengaluru," O Asher, managing director of the company told PTI.

The second phase of expansion, which will begin in the second half of the year, will see the company investing Rs. 350 crore more, most of which will go into entering Indonesia, Hong Kong and Sri Lanka, where the company is conducting market research now.

"This is our largest vertical expansion. The expansion at a crucial time reflects our renewed confidence and strong commitment to the Gulf, India and Far Eastern markets," group chairman MP Ahammed said and the objective is to become the worlds largest jewellery retailer in a few years down the line.

At the end of December, it had 161 stores, which has gone up to 172 now. And by the end of March this will touch 185 sotres, he said, adding that 86 of them are in the GCC markets alone. It will also add seven stores in the domestic market.

Out of the 24 new outlets, nine will be in the UAE, five in Saudi, two in Bahrain and one in Kuwait. Of these, seven were opened last month. It also operates four stores in Singapore and three in Malaysia.

In term of capex, Rs. 400 crore will be invested in the country and the rest will be overseas, he added.

The company will take a call on entering these markets in a month or two depending on the outcome of the market reaserch, he added.

The Rs. 26,000-crore Malabar Group, which is also the top five jewellery retailer in the world in terms of turnover, had Rs. 11,500 crore coming in from overeas sales and Rs. 10,700 crore from domestic sales in 2016. The rest came from the real estate and consumer electronics retail business, Asher said.

The expansion will also see the company hiring over 1,000 professionals, including more than 400 in the GCC and 600 in the country by March. It currently has 9,000 employees.