Vishal to have manufacturing unit in Dehra Dun

Vishal Retail Ltd, which has a market chain called Vishal Mega Mart, will soon invest another Rs 700 crore in the next financial year for opening 60-odd hyper markets in the country and also on starting a manufacturing facility in a 4-acre plot of land at Dehra Dun.

The company is coming up with an IPO in six months and it is planning to raise Rs 125-150 crore from it, each public issue being around Rs 200.

Surinder Kumar Aggarwal, director of Vishal Retail Ltd, said this on the launch of the firm's second hyper market in Ludhiana yesterday. This is the fifth hypermarket of Punjab (the rest are in Ludhiana, Patiala, Jalandhar and Amritsar), and the 42nd in the country.

Speaking to Business Standard, Aggarwal said: "We are planning to open three more hypermarkets in the region--in Mohali, Chandigarh and Panchkula--soon. We are present in 32 cities of the country, having 42 hyper markets with a shopping area of 800,000 square feet. We are planning to open another 15-20, with an investment of Rs 120 crore, by the end of this financial year. We have almost finalised the location in Chandigarh and Panchkula and are looking for about 30,000 square feet of prime land in Mohali."

After establishing themselves in North India, the firm is spreading to southern parts of the country.

"We have two hypermarkets in Hyderabad and another in Bangalore will be opened shortly. The construction at one more hypermarket in Hubli (Karnataka) is going on. At present, we are getting a survey done for south India.''

Vishal Mega Mart keeps separate sections and counters for fashion clothing for men, women and kids, watches, sunglasses, fashion accessories, gifts, electrical appliances, cosmetics, grocery items and many more.

"Of the total products we sell, almost 50 per cent are manufactured by us at our manufacturing facility in Gurgaon, around 40 per cent are bought from manufacturers all over the country and almost 10 per cent are imported from China. Imported Chinese products are mainly for kids. Of the 40 per cent bought from other manufacturers, 10 to 15 per cent are bought from Ludhiana,'' he said.