Reliance
Reliance plans 500 superstores by 2010
NEW DELHI: Reliance Industries opened the India’s biggest superstore yesterday and announced plans for hundreds more in what it called another step in its drive to unleash a “retail revolution.”
The hypermarket in the western city of Ahmedabad — India’s biggest outlet under a single roof — is the latest format to be rolled out by Reliance which launched its $6bn retail foray last November.
The opening on the 60th anniversary of the country’s independence “marks the achievement of another milestone in our effort to unleash a retail revolution in India,” said Reliance chairman Mukesh Ambani.
But the opening of the store, which will carry more than 95,000 products and is one of over 500 Reliance says it plans by 2010, comes amid mounting unease about the impact of big retail outlets on India’s largely unorganised “mom and pop” shopping landscape.
On Tuesday, the Confederation of All India Traders demanded a parliamentary committee “look into all issues arising out of the entry of corporate retailers into retail trade and serious objections raised by traders.”
“From what we’ve seen in other countries, these big retailers have totally destabilised local retailers,” said Praveen Khandelwal, general secretary of the organisation made up of 5,000 retail trade bodies.
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