Godrej to invest Rs 900cr in retail expansion

FMCG major Godrej industries Ltd will invest Rs 500-700 crore over five years to expand 'Aadhar,' a chain of supermarkets in rural India, which hawks goods ranging from fertilisers, pesticides, animal feed and FMCG products.

The company plans to open 1,000 such outlets across the country over seven years. It will spend another Rs 200 crore to open 75-100 urban retail outlets, 'Nature's Basket,' in all the major urban areas.

"We have big plans for rural retail project 'Aadhar' and will invest approximately Rs 500-700 crore over five years to expand," Godrej group chairman Adi B Godrej said here.

"Currently, we have 18 'Aadhar' outlets in rural areas with another one opening today near Pune," he said on the sidelines of a seminar here.

'Aadhar' is the rural retail outlet being run under Godrej Agrovet Limited, a subsidiary of Godrej Industries Limited. It is a supermarket, retailing agriculture inputs such as fertiliser, pesticide, animal feed along with FMCG products and appliances.

The company will also expand its 'Nature's Basket' from the current three outlets in Mumbai to 100 outlets over a period of five years.

"We would invest about Rs 200 crore to scale up the number of 'Nature's Basket' to 100 in all the urban centres of the country," he said.

The company had started its urban retail outlets a few months back to retail fresh fruits and vegetables. At present, there are three outlets only in Mumbai.