Choose the commitments that deserve our capital

I am Tariq Zelmari, chief executive and an executive director of the fictional Qeraveli Home Linen in Ranchi. Our twenty-nine shops and online business sell linen for the home, with a separate corporate gifting programme. I grew up in Cuttack and started on the supplier side of the textile trade. That beginning still affects how I read a retail plan. Behind a handsome display are people who have cut, stitched, packed and financed the goods before the customer has chosen them.

Qeraveli employs 1,440 people. Revenue was ₹486 crore and operating profit ₹31.4 crore for the financial year ending March 2026. The founder family holds 52%, a patient-capital partnership 32% and management 16%; my own 2.2% sits within that management holding. Nine executives report to me. I carry the enterprise profit and loss responsibility, while material capital commitments go to the board. Chair Leela Velzhori and CFO Aman Serqavi bring different questions to that discussion, and neither should need to accept a growth story simply because I prefer it.

I have recently chosen refurbishment over a larger opening programme, narrowed a gifting range to reduce its planned cash requirement, and returned a family-connected property proposal for a different structure. A supplier review also exposed a weakness in my own attention: an attractive contribution account was easier to discuss than invoices we had paid late. These decisions do not add up to a story of always spending less. Some required more rent, earlier cash or a less ambitious expansion timetable. They show how I try to make the company responsible for the commitments it chooses.

Current focus

Connecting shop investment, seasonal commitments and supplier settlement to a capital plan the whole executive team can explain.

Conversations I welcome

One external non-executive appointment where a retail operator's experience would complement the board, subject to consent, independence review and real calendar capacity.