Reliance Retail rattles small fruit vendors

With Reliance Industries' juggernaut rolling into the business of retailing fruits and vegetables, a number of traditional players in this segment are eyeing tie-ups with foreign firms and hiring experts to take on the competition.

When RIL opened its first agri-retail outlet in Hyderabad last week, Delhi-based Dev Bhumi Cold Chain was busy negotiating with a Dutch professional, while another has floated a joint venture with an Irish company.

Established players in the fruits and vegetables sector are preparing for future when they will have to compete with big brothers like Reliance, Bharti, ITC, et al.

If one small Indian company is hiring a former Nestle executive from Holland to oversee its quality management in fruits, another company has tied-up with a leading multi-national distribution company to derive maximum benefits from their expertise.

Dev Bhumi Cold Chain, which has appointed Dutch national Roberrt Blokker as President-operations, has a storage capacity of 10,000 tonnes in both Delhi and Himachal Pradesh and plans to increase it to 40,000 tonnes with an estimated investment of Rs 60 crore (Rs 600 million) in the next five years, its Director Anil Dwivedi told PTI.

Another fresh fruit trading company Suri Agro Fresh has tied up with a $2.6 billion Irish company Fyffes for a 50:50 joint venture.

"We have been getting benefits from their expertise as they come to hold workshop for better crop management as well for guiding us in matters of harvesting to packing," Suri Agro Fresh's Managing Director Hitin Suri said.

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