This Independence Day brings another ray of economic freedom for Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand as Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) is heading towards these states with Rs 8,000 crore to expand its agri-food retail network under the Reliance Fresh brand name.
The move is expected to create about 500,000 job opportunities in 70 districts of Uttar Pradesh and at least five districts of Uttarakhand within three years. A bulk of the employment will be directly under Reliance Retail, while this will also throw open multiple avenues for indirect employment.
“We propose to commence our retail business under the Reliance Fresh brand name in seven major cities of Uttar Pradesh and one in Uttarakhand on the eve of Independence Day, when we launch the first phase of our jumbo operation,” said a top executive of Reliance Retail.
According to the statement, four types of retail outlets are in the process of being set up in urban and semi-urban areas of Uttar Pradesh. These include as many as 225 Reliance Fresh stores, 12 hypermarkets, eight speciality stores and 68 Reliance Town Centres.
Reliance Town Centres will be in the nature of modern multiplexes comprising all segments of hypermarkets, with the addition of food courts, fuel stations, auto repair facilities, banks and ATMs.
The RIL venture is probably the largest single operation by any industrial house in the state. The first phase to be launched on August 14 will include Lucknow, Kanpur, Varanasi, Allahabad, Bareilly, Meerut and Agra in Uttar Pradesh, and Dehradun in Uttarakhand.
Reliance Fresh has already opened its outlets in New Delhi and Hyderabad. RIL says it will invest Rs 250 billion over the next five years in retail business across the country and is eyeing 4,000 outlets in various cities.
