Future Retail employees, vendors heave sigh of relief as Reliance takes over stores

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Vendors, employees, landlords, and suppliers of the Future Group have expressed hopes of reviving business as they welcome Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries taking operational charge of the stores which are being rebranded under the Reliance Retail label.

Recently, Reliance started taking over the Future Retail stores - such as Big Bazaar - as leases for these stores were in the name of Reliance. Future Group has been finding it difficult to finance the working capital of the stores, including making lease payments to landlords.

Reliance has been making job offers to employees of these stores, which will ensure continuity for nearly 30,000 workers of Future Group's retail network.

With losses mounting, Future Retail was staring at insolvency. However, with the lossmaking stores being taken over by Reliance, insolvency proceedings may be delayed for now.

Industry members have welcomed this change and said that the employees would be relieved that months-long uncertainty has ended and there is some job security along with timely salary payments.

Also Read: Reliance takes charge of Future

Shammi Thakur, managing partner of Ambesten Marketing Solutions, said, "It will be good for everyone including the employees and the retail sector. It will open up new opportunities. The problems with payments will vanish. It was a big challenge. There were dues pending for seven years."

"Reliance is a big player in the industry. The money will be recovered with its entry," he added.

In mid-2020, the Future Group negotiated a deal to sell its retail assets to Reliance. However, Amazon put a spanner in the works claiming that they
had a deal with Future that allowed Amazon to control Future's retail
business and any decisions related to the same.

(With ANI inputs)

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