Reliance chalks out retail blueprint

Reliance has identified 18 cities to set up malls.

Ahmedabad will be the first among 18 cities where Reliance Industries Ltd will set up state-of-art shopping malls, to be named after its founder Dhirubhai Ambani. Mumbai, Jamnagar, Surat and Vadodara are prime targets of Reliance, which is ready with a blueprint.

This focus on Gujarat in its foray into retailing is in step with Reliance's tradition of investing heavily in the state. Reliance plans to invest about Rs 30-Rs 50 crore in each mall, sources close to the development have said.

Real estate industry sources said that RIL is looking for 150-200 acre plots to set up these malls. It has plans for setting up hyper-malls in bigger cities like Ahmedabad and Mumbai.

When contacted, an RIL spokesperson denied to comment on the matter, though a company executive told Business Standard, "We are ready with the final plans for retailing and the malls will come up on huge plots of land. These malls will be modelled on those in Dubai and the Far East. The investment in each mall can be in the range of Rs 30-Rs 50 crore, though it can be higher for a few where we are also planning to set up entertainment centres."

RIL will use these malls to showcase its own wares as well. "There will be separate exclusive showrooms of Reliance products, mainly garments, manufactured by RIL's textiles division at Naroda. We will also use these malls to sell fruits from our orchard in Jamnagar. Plans are also afoot to set up retail petroleum outlets close to the malls depending on the availability of land and clearance from local administration," the executive added.

Sources also said RIL initially had plans to open 'Webworld Stores' for Reliance Infocomm at the malls but, because of the family feud, the plan had been shelved. They also said the project to build these malls might be undertaken by RIL's own real estate and construction team.

A crack RIL team is said to be already acquiring land in an unobtrusive manner as the company fears that land prices will shoot if land owners get to know about its plans.

"We expect to complete the land acquisition process in two major cities in Gujarat shortly following which construction activities will be kicked off," said an RIL source.

It was also learnt that Reliance, which had begun opening its own food joints called 'A-One' at its petroleum stations on the National Expressway-1 connecting Ahmedabad with Vadodara, might open similar food outlets at the malls.

The gameplan

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• Reliance has identified 18 cities to set up malls
• First mall to come up in Ahmedabad
• Rs 30-50 crore to be spent on each mall
• Reliance to showcase its textile products at the malls