Reliance retail is seeking some US$900m in revenue from its parent company Reliance Industries to fund aggressive expansion in selected retail store formats.
According to a report by the Economic Times, the push comes at a time when rivals are slowing or ceasing investment in the sector altogether.
'The funds will primarily be invested in adding several big-box stores as well as in expanding aggressively in the consumer durables and apparel formats,' a senior Reliance Retail executive told the newspaper.
Remaining profitable in India’s retail sector has proven a challenge and recently retailers Subhiksha and Vishal Retail have collapsed.
Even the country’s largest retailer, Future Group, has struggled and is looking for investors to help reign in its US$1.6bn debt, the Economic Times reported.
As the country’s second largest retailer Reliance operates around 1,200 stores in the country across multiple formats. Reliance Fresh, its fresh produce stores make up around half of all its outlets.
Despite a focus on small format stores in the past, Reliance is shifting increasingly to big-box stores and hypermarkets, the report stated.
Former top-tier Walmart China executives Rob Cissell and Shawn Gray are speaheading the shift toward large-format stores.
