India bull(s)ish on retail

By Vivin Mathew, CNBC-TV18:

India Bulls Retail plans to invest Rs1500 crore over the next one year. After taking over Pyramid Retail earlier this year India bulls is now in the process of expanding its retail network further. Four new formats will form the cornerstone of the India bulls' plans.

It’s the newest entrant in India's USD 300 billion retail market and its certainly bullish on the sector, the numbers say it all.  It plans to open 250 stores in four different formats by March 2009.

Firstly, it plans 150 store of 5000 sq ft each for grocery stores called the IB Mart selling FMCG, food & grocery and general merchandise. In addition the will be 35 hypermarkets about 50,000 sq ft each called IB Megastore selling mainly apparel, home furnishing, consumer electronics and lifestyle products. The other two formats are IB Wholesale Express and IB Wholesale which will cater to bulk customers and will focus on selling FMCG , food and grocery, general merchandise and apparel.

India bulls said it has learnt from the mistakes of its competitors like Reliance who have so far unsuccessfully tried to eliminate the middle man from the procurement process and have faced the ire of that community for trying. Hence India Bulls has decided that fresh and perishable food which is sourced from traders will constitute only 5-7% of its product. But its late entry into a market that has many well entrenched players with deep pockets like the Future Group, Reliance, Aditya Birla and more will not be easy.

India Bulls retail said that the Real Estate, which had been a big constraint for many other retailers will not be as much of an issue for it because India Bulls Real Estate is developing 1000s of acres of real estate across the country and the retail division will have the first right of refusal over it.