Reliance opens retail chains to gain start on foreign competition
Reliance, one of India’s most valuable companies, will open convenience stores and supermarkets in Hyderabad, southern India, before rolling out to all major cities in a few months.
Chairman Mukesh Ambani starts his $5.4 billion retail venture this week, seeking to win customers and secure prime sites before Carrefour and Wal-Mart are allowed to open stores in India.
The retail market is estimated by Morgan Stanley to surge 15- fold to more than $60 billion by 2015. A near doubling in store rents in a year will make start-up costs expensive for Carrefour and Wal-Mart when a ban on foreign supermarket chains is lifted.
Meanwhile, other Indian retailers are gearing up for competition from overseas and local rivals by acquiring retail space in India’s capital New Delhi, financial center Mumbai and technology city Bangalore, and the next set of big cities Kolkata, Chennai, Pune and Chandigarh.
