The Hindu Business Line : Godrej Agrovet plans to expand its rural retail initiative Aadhaar

GODREJ Aadhaar, the rural retail initiative of Godrej Agrovet Ltd, announced on Monday that it is planning to set up at least 1,000 stores across rural India in the next five years.

The Godrej Aadhaar brand has grown to a chain of 18 stores providing a host of services to farmers and their families within an year of setting up. The company is now in the process of developing these outlets into a one-stop solution for all the needs of the rural populace, Mr C.K.Vaidya, Managing Director, said.

The company will invest an estimated Rs 750 crore to roll out the retail venture across the country and is in the process of roping in corporates to partner in the venture. On the anvil are an array of services for rural house holds from the basic food, grocery, apparel, footwear to furniture, kitchenware and home appliances to value-added services including banking, postal services pharmacy to be made available at these stores to ease the burden of the entire farmer community, Mr Vaidya said.

Positioned as `Godrej Aadhaar - Khushiyon Ka, Khushhali Ka', the new format stores mark the beginning of a chain which shall form the farmer's Aadhaar for `Unnati, Ghar Sansar & Gaon', a move from being just a complete agricultural solution provider to being a multi category retail outlet with wide range of products and services housing a fair mix of brands and private labels. The company is in the process of talking among others to Apollo Hospitals to set up pharmacy/polyclinics at the large format stores. The new format Aadhaars will provide a very conducive retail atmosphere and women-friendly interface, company officials said.

The company launched the first couple of these new large format retail stores at Mancher and Alephata in the Pune district of Maharashtra on Monday. The new format stores sprawl over an area of around 10,000 sq.ft. at Mancher and 3000 sq. ft. at Alephata on the Pune-Nashik Highway. These stores not only offer complete agricultural solutions and products for the farmers but also a wide range of commodities for rural households.

Speaking at the launch, Mr Nadir Godrej ,Chairman, Godrej Agrovet, said, "Godrej Agrovet Ltd has always been a pioneer in the field of agriculture solutions and products and has been partnering the farmers in their daily farming needs for a long time. Over the years we have realised that rural India has a huge market with a significant potential for growth and we believe that Godrej Aadhaar, with its unique value proposition, has a tremendous potential to grow in the segment. This launch is aimed at expanding the shopping horizon of the rural community."

Godrej Aadhaar, with an objective to improve productivity, higher returns and improved cost benefit ratio, at present offers crop advisory services, soil and water testing services; buy back of output, crop finance, supply of agri-inputs and animal feeds, transfer of information (weather, price, and demand supply), door delivery of products among other things.