Reliance Fresh in City
RELIANCE RETAIL, the wholly owned subsidiary of Reliance Industries Ltd, will launch operations in Indore around January. The company has already taken retail space on lease at various prime locations in the City and also plans to set up its own vegetable hub at Rau near Indore.
RELIANCE RETAIL, the wholly owned subsidiary of Reliance Industries Ltd, will launch operations in Indore around January. The company has already taken retail space on lease at various prime locations in the City and also plans to set up its own vegetable hub at Rau near Indore.

Krishi Upaj Mandi secretary Nilay Satbhaiyya told Hindustan Times that the company has applied for a licence to set up a vegetable hub at Rau where it will procure the produce directly from farmers.
Company officials who did not want to be named said the company would initially launch its retail format Reliance Fresh that will offer fresh vegetables, fruits, dairy, staples and grocery products at an aggressive price. The company will also introduce its exclusive grocery brand ‘Reliance Select’ in these outlets.
Following a farm-to-fork strategy, the company will procure directly from farmers eliminating middlemen from the supply chain. It also plans to build its own warehouse on the outskirts of the City. The products will be sourced from across the country for which the company is putting in place a supply chain network.
The end result, according to sources, would be that vegetables and fruits would be available to the consumer at 15-40 per cent lesser than current price, depending on the quality. Pricing strategy will be market-driven and will be uniform across all the stores in the City.
The company recently unveiled its first retail format in Hyderabad and is all set to roll out similar outlets in other major cities across the country in a phased manner.
The company is currently in the process of acquiring properties across India to set up Reliance-owned captive vegetable and fruit Mandis besides the hubs. Reliance Mandis will provide all basic vegetables and fruits at a huge discount on the current wholesale price to vendors while the retail outlets would cater to general public.
The Mukesh Ambani-promoted company has a bigger game plan. At the launch of its first store in Hyderabad, Reliance Retail President and CEO Raghu Pillai stated that by March-April 2007, the company will be rolling out other retail formats catering to segments like consumer durables, hypermarkets, pharmacy, music/entertainment, specialty stores and lifestyle products.
The blueprint of Reliance Retail – with a total estimated investment of Rs 25,000 crore – envisages covering 784 towns, spanning 100 million sq ft retail space and targeting a top line of Rs 100,000 crore by 2010-11. Efforts to contact senior officials of Reliance Retail were in vain.
manoj.ahuja@hindustantimes.com