Bharti Retail has planned to invest around $2.5 billion to set up multiple format stores including neighborhood stores, supermarkets and hypermarkets by 2015.
Speaking at the Reuters Consumer and Retail Summit held in New York, Rajan Bharti Mittal, managing director of Bharti Enterprises, said that Bharti-Wal-Mart joint venture company is going to open a 80,000 square feet distribution centre in Punjab, which will support around 200 to 300 stores across verticals. A new distribution centre in the north will also be opened around the end of next year, he added.
Bharti retail seems to have aggressive plans for Punjab region and will probably make the state as its distribution centre.
Last month, in a telecon with Indiaretailing, Vinod Sawhney, CEO and president, Bharti Retail, had said that the company is in the process acquiring and finalising retail space across India and Punjab is one of the vital markets.
In an email to Indiaretailing, Charu Nangia, GM at Splendor Landbase Limited, had confirmed that Bharti-Walmart has leased about 40,000 square feet outlet at their upcoming mall in Jallandhar. The outlet will be ready for fittings by August.
Mittal, while speaking about the consumers’ response for their recently launched Easy Day stores in Punjab, said: “Bharti Enterprises’ new convenience stores have been well received by Indian shoppers and we plan to ramp up our retail presence with our American partner Wal-Mart.”
