Bharti Retail plans to soon launch its first store in Pune and Bagalore. Bharti Walmart Private Limited, a joint venture between Bharti Enterprises and Walmart organised its first ‘fresh supplier development workshop today in Pune in association with the Maharashtra State Agriculture Marketing Board.

Hence the purpose of organizing the workshop was to create awareness amongst potential suppliers of the best practises available in the field of agriculture, bakery, diary, fish, meat and poultry.

Bharti Walmart supplies to Bharti Retail

Bharti Walmart supplies merchandise, including fresh produce from its Direct Farm Program, to Bharti Retail‘s easyday stores pan-India. Mr. William Savage, Chief Merchandising Officer, Bharti Walmart said, “The challenge in managing the supply chain is to minimise wastage and ensure that we get the specific quantity that is required.

So we have identified the requirements of the next five years to overcome these challenges.” Bharti Walmart has started working with more than 200 farmers at Narayangaon, 100 km from Pune.

Bharti Retail is a wholly owned subsidiary of Bharti Enterprises. Bharti Retail operates a chain of multiple format stores. The company’s neighbourhood format stores operate under the Easyday brand and the compact hypermarket format under the “Easyday market” brand. Recently the company has become more involved in the food economic sectors, with a joint partnership in the agricultural company FieldFresh.

Bharti Retail to open 10-15 cash and carry stores

Bharti Enterprises tied-up with Wal-Mart for opening a chain of retail stores all over India. Though the retail chain store venture is yet to see the light, the two companies, in August 2007, made a surprise statement that they have signed a wholesale cash-and-carry deal. The companies would open 10 – 15 cash-and-carry facilities over 7 years and would employ 5,000 people. Each store would occupy 50,000-100,000 square feet.

The other retail companies of Bharti group are Bharti Retail (Holdings) Private Limited, Bharti Retail Resources Private Limited and Cedar Support Services Ltd.

Bharti Retail

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The Rs 5,900 crore Shree Ganesh Jewellery has tied up with Bharti Retail’s ‘Easy Day’ market format to market its Gaja Lites range of jeweleries.

Shree Ganesh Jewellery is planning to triple its turnover from the retail segment from Rs 400 crore to Rs 1,200 crore in the next two years.

Shree Ganesh Jewellery has launched ‘Gaja Lites’ to tap the growing fashionable, light weight gold and diamond jewellery market in India. The company has been gearing to tap the lower end of the market spectrum by introducing the light jewellery market in India.

The launch of GAJA Lites is an integral part of Shree Ganesh’s aggressive strategy to strengthen its retail network in India. It plans to create 250 outlets in tier II and tier III cities under its flagship brand Gaja.

Shree Ganesh Jewellery will make light weight jewelry

With soaring gold prices, the company sees a significant potential for low-budget spenders looking for value for money jewellery through Gaja Lites. Shree Ganesh had invested Rs 30 Crore for advanced Italian machinery as part of its strategy to build in capabilities for producing light weight jewellery last year.

The weight range for light weight jewellery varies in between of one to 20 grams in 18 karat to 22 karat gold.

Commenting on the launch, Mr. Nilesh Parekh, chairman, Shree Ganesh Jewellery House Ltd said: “Gaja Lites comes as a part of our brand extension and is also a key aspect of our domestic retail expansion.

Our chief objective is to create a fashionable yet affordable collection for the women professionals who prefer minimal jewellery. With escalating prices of gold every day, consumers are also exploring viable options for buying jewellery since it is considered as an investment as well.”

Shree Ganesh Jewellery is a Govt. of India recognized 4 Star Export House

Shree Ganesh Jewellery House Ltd. is a 5900 Cr. (US$ 1.34 billion) turnover company and is a Govt. of India recognized ’4 Star Export House’. The company is one of the leading manufacturers and exporters of handcrafted gold jewellery from India and the shares of the company are listed in Bombay Stock Exchange and National Stock Exchange of India.

The company is promoted by Mr. Nilesh Parekh and Mr. Umesh Parekh. Headquartered in Kolkata, with subsidiary offices in Hyderabad, Chennai, Bangalore, Delhi. The company is into manufacturing and exports of gold jewellery, diamond jewellery, gemstone studded jewellery and light weight Italian jewellery.

Shree Ganesh Jewellery

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It was not a one-off incident. The Tatas had to forgo a prime location in Pune recently after Bharti Retail offered Rs 6 per sq ft more to the developer. There have been at least a dozen such instances in cities including Bangalore and Mumbai where developers scrapped initial agreement with others to sign final agreements with Bharti Retail, which runs Easyday hypermarkets, say real estate executives.

Call it desperation or aggression, the retail arm of Bharti Enterprises is literally muscling its way into the organised retail scene as it looks to rapidly expand its reach across the country after staying put in Punjab for almost three years.

“Easyday is even booking properties at first floor as an anchor investor which other retailers generally avoid,” says Susil Dungarwal, chief mall mechanic at Beyond Squarefeet Advisory, a boutique mall advisory company. A Bharti spokesman said the company does not comment on specific properties, but rivals and experts feel the retailer is taking a big risk and will end up pushing real estate prices.

“Slowdown has taught us not to expand so aggressively; it seems Bharti may have to learn from another cycle in the future,” said a senior official at a leading retail chain who requested not to be named. Raghav Gupta, president at consultancy firm Technopak Advisors, said fight for prime properties between retailers will lead to higher real estate prices. “The cost of real estate is not sustainable even now. If such instances happens more often, it will take a toll on retailers’ margins,” he said.

After two years of consumer slowdown and declining footfalls, most retailers have once again upped their aggression towards retail expansion. Bharti will invest $2-2.5 billion to build a pan-India footprint by 2015, its spokesman said. “We are looking at approximately 10 million square feet of retail experience across all cities in India,” he said.

That’s almost the same size of retail space that India’s largest listed retailer Future Group operates at present. Bharti Enterprises entered the retail market after setting up a joint venture with world’s largest retailer Wal-Mart Stores in 2006 for cash-and-carry wholesale business and floating its own retail venture under a franchisee deal with the US giant.

Currently, Bharti Retail operates more than 93 Easyday supermarketsstores across Delhi, Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Rajasthan and six Easyday Market hypermarkets across Punjab, Rajasthan and National Capital Region.

The strategy is to consolidate presence in one market before expanding to another geographic region, said the spokesman. Bharti plans to have 125 Easyday and 13 Easyday Market stores by end of the 2010, he added. Its rivals such as Future Group and Reliance Retail too are expanding. While Future Group plans to open 60 Big Bazaar stores this fiscal, Reliance Retail wants to open more than 3,000 stores by 2015.

This may recreate frenetic rental hikes witnessed during the boom period, particularly if retailers are aggressive in grabbing prime property. “With every retailer on an aggressive expansion mode, the real state market should definitely pick up,” said Anuj Puri, chairman and country head of real estate services firm Jones Lang LaSalle India.

He said there will be many instances of retailers outbidding each other for good quality space even though a lot of retail space is coming up. According to a report by real estate consultancy firm Knight Frank, 55 million sq ft of retail space will be ready in seven major cities and the retail real estate stock will more than double from the existing 41 million sq ft to 95 million sq ft.

The report also expressed a fear an oversupply situation to the extent of 21 million sq ft in 2012 in just seven top cities. But if the economy continues to grow at an impressive rate and retailers continue to scale up in an aggressive manner, then real estate developers can still hope for better offers after signing initial deals.

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“We have written to the finance ministry for removing the 25 per cent cap on the cash and carry,” Bharti Walmart Chairman Rajan Bharti Mittal told reporters here. The Bharti group has a wholly-owned retail arm, Bharti Retail which runs the ‘Easyday‘ stores. The government had yesterday relaxed FDI norm thereby lifting restriction that required retailers to source products from FDI-backed group wholesale firms only for internal use.

“This is just half the job done,” Mittal said, adding the relaxation should have been done long ago. He, however, said the latest relaxation of norms will result in increased business. ”Offtake will obviously go up. Other companies will also buy from us,” Mittal said, but did not specify what kind of impact it will have on the company’s bottomline.
     
Asked about further relaxation of FDI norm in the retail sectors, he said: “We have asked the government to allow 49 per cent FDI in multi-brand retail to begin with and see how it helps the economy.” Commenting on Bharti Walmart’s expansion plans, company Managing Director and CEO Raj Jain said the firm plans to open 12-15 stores by March next year, up from three stores now. The company’s stores are branded as ‘Best Price Modern Wholesale’.
    
“By March next year the intention is to have up to 12-15 stores. The number is much more than what was originally planned, when the JV was set up,” Jain said. When the JV was announced in 2007, the initial plan was to set up 15 stores in five years. By the end of this calendar year, the firm will enter Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh with a total of five stores, Jain said, adding Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Maharashtra are the states that are being looked at by the country to set up stores.

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Ashman became the CEO of Marks and Spencer in India, when the UK retailer tied up with RIL to relaunch its Indian operations two years ago, and was instrumental in setting up the stores of M&S Reliance India.

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The retailer is also planning to set up a mother distribution centre on the Mumbai-Pune highway, said the executive. Unlike other retailers such as Reliance Retail, which set up stores across the country in one go, Bharti is focusing on creating a cluster in one region before entering another.

“Our strategy is to consolidate presence in one market, before expanding to another geographic region,” said a spokesperson. Currently, it operates over 90 stores across Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and New Delhi, among others.

Bharti Retail, a unit of Bharti Enterprises, operates Easyday neighbourhood stores and hypermarkets called Easyday Market. Bharti also has a joint venture with Walmart, the world’s largest retailer, which runs cash and carry stores called Best Price Modern Wholesale in Punjab.

Analysts say the cluster strategy helps retailers to draw efficiencies on supply chain and logistics. “In case of hypermarkets and supermarkets, retailers can derive a lot of benefits if they can create a cluster of stores in one region, as logistics involve maximum investments,” says Susil Dungarwal, founder and chief mall mechanic, Beyond Squarefeet.

Bharti is also planning to open stores in the south and signed half a dozen stores in the region, property consultants said. Earlier this year, it said it planned a tally of 140 stores in the country by year end. However, analysts say Bharti has a lot of catching up with the ambitious plans it had announced in the past. In 2007, it talked of a total retail area of 10 million sq ft by 2015 and investment of Rs 10,000 crore and revenues of over Rs 20,000 crore by then.

Even other newcomers have moved ahead. Reliance Retail, which was set up in 2006, today runs nearly 1,150 stores, while Aditya Birla Retail, set up during the same time, runs around 640.

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It plans to have 125 Easy Day supermarkets and 13 Easy Day Market hypermarts by the end of the year, a company spokesman said. It currently operates 60 Easy Day stores across Punjab, Rajasthan, Haryana, Delhi and Uttar Pradesh and six Easy Day Market stores across Punjab, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh.

“The fall in rentals and the real estate prices has benefited us immensely,” he said, adding that all the new stores this year will be in North India. But in another five years Bharti Retail plans to be present in every city in the country with a population of more than one million. It will invest up to $2.5 billion to add about 10 million square feet of retail space in the country by then, the spokesman said.

Meanwhile, Bharti’s wholesale partner Wal-Mart is spending millions to shop its way into India’s lucrative retail market. The giant from Bentonville has spent $11 million, or more than Rs 52 crore, on lobbying on issues related to India since signing the joint venture with Bharti Retail in August 2007, according to lobbying disclosure reports filed by the company before the US Senate. Lobbying is legal in the US.

Organised retail, estimated at $30 million, accounts for less than 10% of India’s $375-billion retail market, but is growing at an impressive 13-14% annual rate.  When contacted, Raj Jain, managing director and CEO of Bharti Wal-Mart, said, “Our view is that FDI in India should open in multi-retailing. We believe it is good for India and for the development of a robust supply chain.”

The equal joint venture between Bharti and Wal-Mart plans to open up to 15 cash-and-carry stores and employ about 7,000 people over the next three years, a company spokesman said. He credited the softening of real estate prices and positive response from the two partners for an acceleration in expansion plans.

In 2007, the company had talked about opening 10-15 stores in seven years.  The company in April opened the second Best Price Modern Wholesale store at Zirakpur near Chandigarh after opening the first one in May 2009. It now plans to open the third one in Jallandhar within a couple of months.

It has also signed deals for stores varying between 50,000 sq ft and 100,000 sq ft in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, Mr Jain said. Meanwhile, buoyed by a pick up in consumer demand after last year’s slowdown and reasonable property rentals, other retailers and cash-and-carry players are also ready with a second wave of expansion.

German firm Metro Cash and Carry, which became the first foreign wholesale player in India when it set up in Bangalore back in 2003, recently signed a memorandum of understanding with the Punjab government to open six cash-and-carry outlets in the state for an estimated Rs 900 crore.

Vishal Sehgal, head of corporate relations at Metro Cash & Carry India, however, refused to give timeline for the project. “With our model of investing in own land and making our own construction, things tend to progress slow,” he said. Currently, Metro has five outlets across Bangalore, Mumbai, Hyderabad and Kolkata.

Khet-Se Agriproduce India, a joint venture of Tata Chemicals and Ireland’s Total Produce Plc, too plans to go nationwide, its chief executive officer GR Goves said.  The cash-and-carry player, which operates two outlets in Ludhiana and supplies supplies bananas, grapes and other fruits and vegetables to Reliance Retail, Bharti Easy Day, Aditya Birla group’s More and Namdhari Fresh, recently opened a shop in New Delhi.

Spencer’s Retail, the Sanjiv Goenka-led retail arm of RPG Group that opened only four to five large format stores last year, plans to add 15 large format stores in 2010 by investing close to Rs 100 crore. It will increase its trading area by at least 50% from the current 1 million sq ft and focus on the National Capital Region, West Bengal, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh, a company spokesman said.

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According to sources, the retailer is also scouting for properties and Western and Central India to open stores and is holding talks with property developers in this regard. The chain has hired a dozen persons to scout and book the properties, sources said. On Wednesday, Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Retail announced its growth plans, focussing on hypermarkets and world-class infrastructure.

“Considering Bharti’s original plans to have 10 million sq ft by 2015, it has a lot to catch up,” said an analyst who did not want to be quoted. In February 2007, when Bharti announced the foray into retail, it talked about investment of $2-2.5 billion by 2015 and $5 billion in revenues. When contacted, a Bharti Retail spokesperson said: “Bharti Retail has announced plans to increase the number of retail stores to about 140 across India by end of this year and in support of this plan, we are sourcing real estate, pan-India.”

Bharti Walmart, the joint venture between Bharti Enterprises and Walmart, the world’s largest retailer, is also expected to open cash and carry stores in the South in the next 12-24 months. Earlier, the chain said it wanted to expand presence in one region, North in this case, before entering new regions. In sharp contrast to Bharti’s strategy, new entrants such as Reliance Retail and Aditya Birla have launched their operations from the South and expanded other parts of the country.

For instance, while Reliance Retail opened its first store in Hyderabad, Aditya Birla Retail acquired south-based retail chain Trinethra in late 2006 to launch its operations. According to Susil Dungarwal, founder of Beyond Squarefeet, a mall advisory firm, southern cities such as Bangalore and Chennai offer reasonable retail rents compared to other cities and limited supply. “South offers quality real estate at affordable rents,’’ he says.

Currently, Bharti has a total of 70 stores, including 64 Easy Day stores and six Easy Day Market stores, in Punjab, Haryana, UP, Rajasthan, among others. The retailer recently appointed former Hypercity CEO Andrew Levermore as its chief operating officer to spearhead operations. Retail consultants say Bharti Retail will have to face challenges in scaling up in South as the region already has a established organised retail market with the presence of majors such as Spencer’s, Aditya Birla, Reliance Retail, Nilgiris, among others.

According to estimates, India has a total retail market of $385 billion and organised retail accounts for five per cent of that. The share of modern trade is expected to touch 14 per cent by 2013. The penetration of modern trade is expected to be as high as 25-30 per cent in the South, compared to five per cent elsewhere in the country.

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“Our strategy is to consolidate presence in one market, before expanding to another geographic region. We plan to have 125 easyday and 13 easyday Market stores by the end of 2010. The focus of roll out would be North India but we have plans to expand operations into other parts of India,” says a Bharti Retail official in response to an email query.

The company has lined up an investment of $2 billion to $2.5 billion by 2015 to fuel its expansion plans. “Retail is viewed as the next big business by Bharti and continues to receive investment and strategic attention. We are looking at approximately 10 million square feet of retail experience across all cities in India, with a population of over one million,” the official said.

The easyday Market in Jaipur is a 35,000 sq. ft. store offering over 18,000 quality products, including trendy fashion wear such as George (international brand) and Astitva (Indian Ethnic Wear), private label products, home ware and furnishings, a range of electronics and electrical appliances, mobile phones, footwear, toys, books, food and grocery and fresh fruits and vegetables.

Rajasthan already has a strong presence of retail brands like Reliance, Big Bazaar, More, 6Ten and Spencer.

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“From January 2011, we will expand in different regions and are considering options now,” Bharti Enterprises vice-chairman and managing director Rajan Bharti Mittal said.

Although we have not finalized the regions yet, but it is a toss between south and west, he told reporters on the sidelines of a Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) meeting here.

Bharti Retail currently operates 27 Easy Day stores and 2 Easy day mini hyper markets in Punjab and Haryana.

“We are targeting 200 stores, mostly Easy day by 2011 in the northern region with a 1000cr revenue target. By December the total store count is expected to be 70,” Mr Mittal said.

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