Rice processor REI Agro entered retail sector in Punjab region announcing to launch 50 more stores in the region with an investment of some 50 crore (Rs 500 million) in a year.

REI Agro's Managing Director Sundip Jhunjhunwaala announced his company launching five retail stores under the brand name "6Ten" in Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh.

The group opened shops in Chandigarh, Mohali and Panchkula to penetrate in these regions. They "will also open 50 more such stores during next one year in order to strengthen our position here," he told reporters.

The group, already having some 35 stores mainly in NCR, will offer grocery items, FMCG, fruits and vegetables and dairy products through the stores.

The company plans to open more stores in Patiala, Ludhiana, Jalandhar, Amritsar and Rohtak soon. "With organized retailing growing at more than 30

per cent, there is a huge untapped market for these stores in India and we are targeting this space across the states of Punjab and Haryana," he said.

REI Agro Ltd plans to open 1500 such stores by 2011 and would set up flour milling facility, a processing centre in north in order to feed its retails stores, he said.

REI Agro is a Rs.1,085 crore (Rs 10.85 billion) basmati rice processing and marketing company. From modest beginnings 10 years ago, the company has grown to hold nearly 20 percent of the basmati rice segment worldwide.

REI Agro is now an integrated player, undertaking activities right from contract farming to procuring paddy to drying, de-husking, milling and polishing, colour sorting, grading, inspection, packing, branding, distribution and retailing.