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K. Giriprakash

A Pantaloon mall in Hyderabad.

Bangalore , Dec. 2

PANTALOON Retail will unveil a slew of services next year and is set to add 20 more hypermarket stores and six more lifestyle stores this year which could cost the company over Rs 600 crore.

Pantaloon also expects to notch up a turnover of around Rs 2,200 crore this fiscal (July 2005 - June 2006), up from Rs 1,200 crore last fiscal. Pantaloon has set a target of Rs 10,000 crore in turnover by 2010. Pantaloons Retail head for the South, Mr Vishnu Prasad, told Business Line that the company plans to launch more facilities, some related to financial services, for its customers. There is also a possibility of sourcing mobile phones directly from the manufacturers to sell them at its hypermarket store, Big Bazaar, at lower prices.

"We look into the customer's basket and what goes into it," Mr Prasad said. He said because of its diverse formats of retailing, Pantaloon has been able to address over 70 per cent of the customer's basket. The company offers over two lakh items ranging from lifestyle products and food items to home needs. Pantaloons will not get into manufacturing but rather source the products from the manufacturers themselves so that customers get them at discounted prices. It, however, has a manufacturing unit near Mumbai which makes trousers.

Pantaloon also plans to have outlets in its retail stores which sell financial services ranging from insurance to mutual funds of different companies. It will also help customers book train and airline tickets and offer services such as dry cleaning.

Mr Prasad said Pantaloon is in the process of setting up 20 more hypermarket discount stores, Big Bazaars, across the country, which will take the number of such stores to 42 during the fiscal. The number of Central Malls, its lifestyle stores, will increase to nine from three. The cost of setting up each Big Bazaar is around Rs 15 crore while that of Central Malls ranges between Rs 50 crore and Rs 60 crore. All these stores are owned by Pantaloon but the real estate is taken on lease.

The number of Pantaloon's department stores too would be increased to 28 from 16 earlier. By June 2006, Pantaloon expects to cross retail space of over 3.5 million sq ft. As of November 2005, it had retail space of over 2.1 million sq ft.

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