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Reliance Retail to focus on rural prosperity
By Indiaretailing Bureau
Reliance Retail Limited (RRL), the retailing arm of the Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries, has said that bringing in prosperity to the underprivileged rural populace of India remains its prime motive in the coming five years.
Speaking at the company's 34th annual general meeting (AGM), Mukesh Ambani, chairman and managing director, RIL, said, "Bringing in prosperity and well-being, particularly to farmers and thereby triggering a socio-economic transformation, particularly in rural India, remains our prime motive."
As part of its plans, Reliance Retail will create rural business hubs, which will be centres of aggregation of farm produce. "The hubs will ensure supply of quality farm inputs and provisions of products and services to rural customers and in the process, will help the farmers get a good deal for their produce," informed Ambani.
Besides, the company is also focussed towards generating significant employment opportunities, particularly for the underprivileged. As part of plans, RRL plans to create half a million jobs directly over the next five years. According to Ambani, the rippling effect of the company's retail initiative will create multiples of indirect jobs as well.
RRL currently employs over 25,000 people on its own, and combined with other subsidiaries, the group employs more than 48,000 people.
More openings and partnerships:
With investments close to Rs 25,000 crore over the next five years, RRL plans to roll out retail stores across all verticals in the country. So far, the company has invested close to Rs 5,000 crore in the retail venture to open around 700 stores across 14 different formats in 60 cities of the country. According to Ambani, Reliance Fresh, the oldest format from RRL, has around 600 stores across the country.
Besides stores, the company has also identified growth opportunities in various formats and plans to introduce new retail verticals in India. Speaking on this, Ambani said, "Based on our experience over the past twelve months, we have organised our retail initiative to focus on product market formats. This has enabled us to effectively address the retail market opportunity in several ways."
According to Ambani, growing through partnerships is one of the key strategic shifts in RRL, and the company has plans of partnering with more foreign giants in the coming years. Over the last 12 months, Reliance Retail has formed partnerships with leading overseas players including Marks and Spencer, Pearle Europe, Apple, and Vornado.
More loyal consumers:
According to Ambani, all these initiatives are in sync with the company's plans to gain more satisfied and loyal consumers. "Today, we are endowed with the confidence of nearly 3.5 million loyal customers through our various retailing formats, and we intend to be the most trusted brand across all verticals of retail sector in India. Moreover, campaigns such as the 'Reliance One membership program' have helped us keep a track of our loyal consumers and we plan to generate more such strategies to establish good relationships with consumers," said Ambani.
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