RIL sees retail biz revenue at Rs 45,000 cr

Sounding bullish on India's retail sector, Reliance Industries CMD Mukesh Ambani on Friday envisioned a ten-fold surge in the group's retail arm business in the next five years, taking its total revenues to Rs 45,000 crore (Rs 450 billion).

"I believe that organised retailing in India is poised to take off to the next orbit of growth... Over the next five years, I can realistically foresee this business growing ten-fold," Ambani said while addressing the company's annual general meeting in Mumbai.

In FY2009-10, its retail arm's revenues stood at Rs 4,500 crore (Rs 45 billion), he said, adding that it currently operates 1,150 stores across 86 cities in 14 states.

Making his ambitions clear, Ambani said the company is "well equipped to be a national leader".

Giving future projections, the RIL chief also stated that its strategy of investing in good back-end facilities, including a robust supply chain, was correct.

Ambani's statement exuding confidence in the sector assumes significance, as after being gung-ho on retail initially, some analysts had raised doubts about prospects in the sector.

"I believe that the business has built the right fundamentals," Ambani, India's richest man, said.

Reliance, which forayed into the retail space in 2006, operates through two formats -- value and specialty.

The value format stores include Reliance Fresh, Reliance Mart and Reliance Super chains, while under the specialty format, it operates stores catering to niche segments like apparels, footwear, books and music, electronics and jewellery.

In addition, Reliance's retail arm has forged alliances with global brands like Marks and Spencer, Apple and Diesel to sell their products in India.