Can Reliance Retail grow to Rs 4.65 lakh crore by 2027?
After shaking the Indian telecom industry with the launch of Jio, billionaire Mukesh Ambani-controlled Reliance Retail plans a massive expansion in rural and semi-urban markets for achieving the 30 per cent growth annually over the next 10 years. The expansion is expected to take up the company's revenue to Rs 4.65 lakh crore by 2027 and it will be 40 per cent higher than the consolidated revenue of entire Reliance Industries (RIL) in the last financial year.
Reliance Retail, which completed 10 years of full-fledged operation, has recorded a revenue of Rs 33,765 crore in the last financial year, a 60 per cent growth compared to the previous year. It has already crossed the Future Group in the revenue, which was around Rs 26,400 crore in the last financial year. Avenue Supermarts, which operates the DMart retail chain, had a revenue of 12,000 crore. Reliance Retail had an EBIT (earnings before interest and taxes) of Rs 1,203 crore in the last financial year. If it grows in the same rate in the next 10 years, the company will be able to generate an EBIT of Rs 16,500 crore, say market analysts.
Ambani said in the last AGM that Reliance Retail was a business with significant growth possibilities. "I have set our leadership a target of 30 per cent growth each year over the next decade," he added. Tough the company launched its first store in Uttar Pradesh in 2006, it had faced problems from the political parties and had to soft peddle the launches in other cities. It regained momentum and started opening stores in the next financial year, completing a decade of operation in the last financial year. In this context, the company has drawn up the plan for the next decade at a 30 per cent growth each year.
At the end of first quarter, the retailer has 3,634 stores across India with 13.8 million sq ft retail space. The company has got 4 million customers every week in 703 cities. It has 30 million customers under the loyalty programme. The company has 5 lakh distribution partners for communication devices, especially for the LYF phones, which launched to support the Jio business.
The cash and carry retail under Reliance Market, which started in 2011, has expanded to 37 cities with over 40 stores and serving over 2.5 million registered members, including kiranas, HORECA and other institutions. The super market chain Reliance Smart--- which was till last year classified separately as super and hyper marts--- operates 77 stores in 54 cities. Neighbourhood food and groceries chain Reliance Fresh has 500 stores across 80 cities and sells over 200 tonnes of fruits and over 300 tonnes of Vegetables every day, the company claims.
Reliance Retail's omni-channel offering and the online journey began nearly two years ago with www.reliancefreshdirect.com. Initially it was rolled out exclusively for employees at the company's RCP campus in Navi Mumbai. Subsequently it was enhanced to consumers in Navi Mumbai and Mumbai. Last year, the portal had been renamed as www.reliancesmart.in and expanded to Pune and Bangaluru. Reliance Retail is also the order fulfilment partner for food and groceries in 14 cities for e-tailer Grofers India, which operates mobile and web-based platform Grofers. The online business of Reliance Retail will be expanded to more cities in the coming days, say sources.
