Budget

What Sonata watches cost in India, why no imported brand can match them under ₹1,500, who owns the brand and where it stops being worth buying.

What Fastrack actually costs in India, why its MRP is close to fiction, who owns it and where the brand is genuinely worth buying. An honest brand audit.

Batanagar, the school shoes, the high street shop. Bata feels Indian and is not. What its own filings say about who owns it, and whether the shoes are worth it.

Relaxo makes more footwear than any other Indian company and owns Sparx, Flite and Bahamas. What that scale does to the price, and where the shoes fall short.

Sparx is Googled as though it were a foreign sports label. It is made by Relaxo in Bahadurgarh, alongside Flite and Bahamas. What it costs and whether it is good.

Action Shoes was the school-shoe default of the 1990s. What the filings show now, why its MRPs run 59% to 89% above the real selling price, and who should still buy it.

boAt is India’s largest audio brand and only the number two smartwatch brand. It also lost 7.5 million customers’ data. What that means before you buy.

Noise is India’s biggest smartwatch brand in a category whose shipments fell 17.6% in 2025. What that means for what you pay, and whether the watches are any good.

What Liberty shoes actually cost in India, which 14 sub-brands it owns, and why the listed company does not own the Liberty name. An honest brand audit.

Khadim’s is now a retail-only company after the 2025 demerger. What that leaves is a ₹367 crore chain of 851 stores selling shoes at a realised ₹527 a pair.

Paragon lost money in FY23 and FY24 before recovering in FY25. What its footwear costs in India, who owns the group, and why it is not India’s largest maker.

VKC Pride sells PU and EVA slippers at ₹159 to ₹409 through dealers, mostly across South India. But no single company is called VKC Pride — the trademark, the selling company and the factory sit in three separate entities.

Walkaroo filed ₹2,244.68 crore of sales in FY2025, more than Paragon and about 80% of Relaxo. Here is what its footwear costs in India, and where its announced numbers part company with its filings.