Reliance Industries Ltd.

Reliance Retail, the wholly owned subsidiary of Reliance Industries, is set to open 150 stores by March-end and double the number of stores across the country in all formats within five years. The target of clocking revenues up to Rs 45,000 crore can be achieved only with doubling the number of stores over the next five years. This will be a 10-fold increase in revenue for the chain, from the Rs 4,500 crore of 2009-10.

In 2010-11, the retail chain would have opened 350 stores, 150 in the last quarter of the current financial year. At present, Reliance Retail has 1,050 stores in all formats across the country. As for 2011-12, he   the plan was to opening another 400.

At present, of the 20-odd format stores, both food and non-food, half of Reliance Retail’s revenues come from the food arm. The store size focus would remain 3,000 sq ft each, requiring typically an investment of up to Rs 1 crore. While expansion is on the cards, there are possible problems in the shape of the continuous procrastination in implementation of the goods and services tax (GST).