Kumar Birla averse to foreign tie-ups for retail biz

A V Birla Group, which has kicked off its retail juggernaut with the acquisition of supermarket chain Trinethra, has ruled out partnering foreign firms in its bid to be among the country's top retailers.

The A V Birla group aims to become a leading retail player, but chairman Kumar Mangalam Birla has categorically denied any intentions to form partnership or joint ventures with any foreign firms, a top group official said.

The Birla group's decision to go alone comes contrary to other domestic companies like Bharti Enterprises joining hands with world's largest retailer Wal-Mart.

The country's retail sector, which is being estimated at about $300 billion, continues to attract foreign players with other companies such as UK-based Tesco and French major Carrefour exploring opportunities in India.

Reliance Industries, India's top private firm, is also going alone and has chalked out a Rs 25,000 crore retail plan.

Without disclosing any financial details of the group's retail business plans, the official said the funding would not come from any of the listed group companies.

The group would operate its retail business under the name of A V Birla Retail, and plans to follow multi-format retail business model, which would consist of both large and small-sized stores, the official said.

The group has acquired a 90% stake in Hyderabad-based Trinethra Super Retail, which operates a total of 170 stores under the Trinethra and Fabmall brands in Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Kerala, the official said.