Hyderabad: Zerostock Retail Private Ltd Thursday announced the launch of Cornerstone, its premier men's wear brand with the opening of five exclusive outlets here.

The company plans to open 15 more stores over the next 10 days in six cities - Bangalore, Chennai, Kolkata, Pune, Kochi and Jaipur.

Aiming to have a pan-India presence, the company will invest $4 million for a total of 30 stores by the end of March. It plans to have 300 stores by the end of 2008 and 1,000 stores by the end of next year.

Ashok Maya, CEO, Zerostock Retail Private Ltd, told reporters that the company raised $4 million from angel investors both in India and abroad. It would raise another Rs.500 million ($12 million) from venture capitalists and private equity players to fund its expansion plans.

Each store will have 600 square feet of space. Maya said they aim to have a turnover of Rs.1 million per store per month.

Stating that men's wear account for 45 percent of Rs.890-billion ($22 billion) garment industry and is growing at 10 percent annually, he said the segment was handicapped by limited designs, sizes and in stocks.