RPG draws up mega plans for retail in India

Buoyed by the increasing retail activity in the country, RPG group has embarked upon a Rs 2,500 crore expansion of its retail venture, Spencer's, which includes setting up of 1,000 stores across the country by 2009. The company plans to increase its foothold across the nation and would expand Spencer's retail in two phases. The first, to be completed by 2009, would see an investment of Rs 1,000 crore in taking the number of Spencer shops to 1,000 from the existing 125. "We would invest Rs 1,000 crore in expanding Spencers', which would become our flagship retail brand, in the next two years. The company is also planning to invest an additional Rs 1,500 crore between 2009-11 to further expand retail operations," RPG Enterprises Vice Chairman Sanjiv Goenka told reporters. He said the company would raise fund for the planned expansion through a mix of resources, which include private placements and internal accruals.
RPG did not rule out the possibility of a public issue an was planning a fresh listing of its retail venture. "We are looking at a fresh listing of our retail venture. Though we have not set a specific time frame for the listing, it could be as early as 2009," Goenka said. Spencer's Retail has format stores, which include express stores (stores which sell daily use items), cellcomm express (MBO for mobile phones), super store, book store, music store and hypermarket.

Courtesy: EconomicTimes
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