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New Delhi, Nov 6: The Aditya Birla group has readied a blueprint for India’s second-largest retail rollout with Rs 15,000-crore investment in over 6,000 stores in three years—a plan that is much larger than what was anticipated by industry analysts and peers. Among new groups entering retail, the Birla plan is next only to Reliance Industries’ Rs 25,000-crore corpus for 10,000 stores by 2011.
Even as the Birlas are finalising their roadmap, the first 11 Reliance outlets opened to the public in Hyderabad on Friday.
The Birla strategy, to be announced shortly, is almost identical to Reliance’s on three crucial aspects. One, like Reliance, Birla will go it alone in retail and has not sought a tie-up with a global retail major. Two, like Reliance, it is following a carpet-bombing approach to retail with a multi-format strategy, ranging from neighbourhood stores to specialty stores and hypermarkets to supermarkets. Three, they will also initially focus on grocery and lifestyle.
The Aditya Birla Group hopes to hit the market with its first stores by the middle of next year. Group chief financial officer Sumant Sinha is heading the retail foray. When contacted, Sinha refused to comment on the retail strategy. “We are deeply interested in retail,” is what a group spokesperson told FE.
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