The Hindu Business Line : Aditya Birla Retail's expansion plan

Aditya Birla Retail Ltd, which has so far rolled out 430 supermarkets across the country, on Wednesday announced the setting up of 12 mega stores in the hypermarket format in 2008-09.

The first mega store, spread over 1 lakh sq. ft. and offering a range of 60,000 products, has been set up in the premises of Padmatex Mill, a closed textile mill in Vadodara, with an investment of Rs 25 crore.

Inaugurating the Group's first hypermarket called `More', Mr Kumar Mangalam Birla, Chairman, said the company would increase the number of stores in the supermarket format to 500 by the end of 2008. The investment was "large enough" to ensure the company has a nationwide footprint, he added.

He denied that super and hypermarkets could threaten the existence of the traditional `kirana' stores, and added that India had enough space for all players. "We are, in fact, going to create employment."

Roll-out plan

Mr Russel Berman, CEO, Hypermarket Division, said the company is planning to roll out its next hypermarkets in Mysore, Ahmedabad, the National Capital Region (NCR) near New Delhi and the southern States. However, there are no plans to expand its reach through the franchisee model.

Replying to a question, he told Business Line that the super and hypermarkets, globally, start breaking even in the second year. The Indian stores would also follow this average.

"In my view, the Indian consumer is today under-served. Despite the existence of large shopping outlets all over the country, many of them do not offer the kind of shopping experience and ambience to the Indian consumers which the people in most other parts of the world find it a given," Mr Birla said.

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