Reliance Retail, the retail arm of the diversified Reliance Industries (RIL), aims to grow its revenues by more than five times to R40,000-50,000 crore by 2016, its chairman Mukesh Ambani said at the company?s annual general meeting (AGM) in Mumbai on Thursday.

At a consolidated level, Reliance Retail had posted operational revenues of R7,599 crore in fiscal 2012, representing a 25% growth over the previous year, according to the company?s annual report.

Highlighting retail as an important growth driver for RIL in coming years, Ambani said, ?We are investing aggressively in this business. We are targeting five-six times of existing revenue and would turn profitable within this time period.?

According to the annual report, RIL had invested R5,027 crore of fresh capital in its retail division in fiscal 2012. ?During fiscal 2012, Reliance stressed on its back-end operations and store expansion capability by successfully adding more than 200 stores across value and speciality formats,? the annual report said. ?Saturating markets and gaining market share in certain key markets is integral to Reliance Retail?s strategy for future growth,? it added.

Ambani also said the company will grow its customer base by over three times from about 30 lakh people visiting its stores every week to over 1 crore people in three-four years. This would be aided by store expansion.

At present, Reliance Retail owns over 6.5 million square feet space through 1,300 stores. ??The company will be rolling out more stores in 2012-13 which are currently in various stages of construction and planning,? it had stated in April while announcing its results for the fourth quarter and fiscal 2012.

In fiscal 2012, Reliance Retail experimented with new formats for maximising operational efficiency and utilisation of assets. It launched its new prototype Reliance Mart (hypermarket) and Reliance Super (supermarket), and also opened its first wholesale store Reliance Market, which caters to mom-and-pop stores, small and medium businesses, hotels, restaurants and various institutional buyers.

Ambani further said that the company, through its newest format, Reliance Markets, will ink partnerships with kirana stores and small retailers to supply them products at lower prices. ?We aim to be a supplier of choice for kiranas and small retailers. We will grow in retail in partnerships with small retailers,? he said.

The company?s other speciality formats ? Reliance Trends (branded apparel) and Reliance Digital (electronics) ? doubled their footprint, and attained leadership position in the segments they operate in. Besides store expansion, the company also inked strategic deals through its lifestyle arm ? Reliance Brands ? with Iconix Brand Group, a company which owns fashion and home brands such as Ed Hardy, Mossimo, London Fog and Ocean Pacific.

Reliance Brands also entered into a franchisee agreement with Kenneth Cole, a US clothing brand, and Thomas Pink, a UK apparel retailer. On Tuesday, it tied up with American lifestyle giant Brooks Brothers.

The company also operates joint ventures with premium lifestyle brands such as Diesel, Timberland, Quiksilver, Roxy, Steve Madden, toy retailer Hamleys and European optical chain Vision Express.

Reliance Retail?s other formats include Reliance Fresh (food and grocery), Reliance Jewels (gems and jewellery), Reliance Footprint (footwear), Reliance TimeOut (books, music and toys), Reliance Living (furniture and home solutions), Reliance Autozone (automotive products).