Retailing bug bites Munjals

After Reliance Industries, Tata, Bharti and the AV Birla group, the $3.2-billion Munjal family-promoted Hero group is all set to become the next big entrant in the Indian retail sector. The group is scouting for a foreign joint venture partner for this venture.

"Our next plan is for organised retail, even though a lot of competition is expected," Pawan Munjal, managing director, Hero Honda, the flagship of the Hero group, told Business Standard.

As a group with various business interests and a strong background in several manufacturing sectors, the Munjals are looking at new opportunities across various industries for growth.

"Retail, which is likely to emerge as a major sector in the Indian market, is one of the core areas of our future growth strategy," Munjal added.

The group has also floated a new company, Aero Infrastructure Ltd, which will focus on the development of institutional infrastructure in the country.

The company has identified real estate development, including residential complexes and townships, shopping malls, community complexes and hospitals, apart from ancillary support amenities, as the major areas it wants to enter. To begin with, the group is developing two industrial parks at Haridwar in Uttaranchal.

"The industrials parks will establish the entire paraphernalia and will be next to our 500,000-unit plant at Haridwar for motorbikes. For the first time, we will develop these chains of utility services, which will also meet the needs of our automobile ancillary suppliers and vendors," Munjal added.

However, he refused to divulge the investment amount or the possible business model the group would get into for retail or infrastructure.

The Munjals' move to grow beyond the two-wheeler business, which constitutes the bulk of its revenues (around $2 billion), is also reflected in its plans to foray into the highly-competitive passenger car segment.

Munjal pointed out that while they had still not identified the segment they would enter, it was definitely an area they were interested in.