The Hindu Business Line : Vishal Retail looking to offload stake to fund expansion

New Delhi, April 9 Vishal Retail plans to offload a portion of its stake to fund its expansions. The company has also set up its own institute to train people for the shop-floor, to offset the manpower crisis.

“We have a significant presence in the north. We are aggressively looking to expand our presence in tier-2 and tier-3 cities in south and east India. The second round of funding will be to fund our expansions beyond the one million sq feet of space,” Mr Ram Chandra Agarwal, CEO, Vishal Retail, told Business Line.

He, however, did not specify the amount the retail chain may raise. The company will invest close to Rs 750 crore towards store expansions.

Space targets

Vishal, which has 100 stores across the country, has plans to increase its retail space in 2008 by a million square feet. “We want to be present in all retail formats to cater to all sections of people. This means we are looking at setting up cash & carry, convenios as well as specialty formats for shoes, toys, restaurants, garments and durables,” he added.

The company said it is concentrating more on standalone stores rather than placing itself in malls.

private labels

On private labels, Mr Agarwal said as much as 25-30 per cent of the stock keeping units are private labels and it will soon retail private labels in the consumer durables space as well. “The private labels do extremely well in tier-2 and tier-3 markets as these come at a relatively lower price band than their branded counterparts. This caters to the aspirational needs of consumers,” he said, adding that the company spends around Rs 20 per square feet on branding-related activities.

Mr Agarwal said it is looking for venture capitalists who will invest in its vendor base. Noting that manpower was the biggest challenge for any retailer, he said the company has set up its own academy to train people especially for the retail industry. “The manpower factory will help us have an advantage over competition. It will initially train 50 people,” he said.

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