Reliance Retail, a subsidiary of Indian conglomerate Reliance Industries, plans to open big-box hypermarkets across the country.

Reliance has purchased real estate in 20 towns and cities including Mumbai, Kolhapur, Aurangabad, Mysore, Pune and Madurai where it can establish its planned large format stores. Each land is estimated to measure 1 to 1.5 acres which will accommodate large format stores ranging from 60,000 to 80,000sqft.

“We are buying land wherever there is scarcity of ready space, especially for our large-format stores. It will help in the long run as we don’t have to depend on rent inflation and its fluctuations,” said Bijou Kurein, president, Reliance Retail.

The success of its pilot hypermarkets in Pune and Mumbai and first cash-and-carry store in Ahmedabad have encouraged the retailer to go beyond small box-hypermarkets operated in leased properties.

“We want to be a strong Indian retail player. The largest retail company in China is not Walmart or Tesco. It is Sun Art, a strong local company which owns around 200 hypermarkets,” said a senior company executive.

Reliance Retail, headed by former Wal-Mart executives Shawn Gray and Rob Cissel, said the company has no plan to take on a foreign partner even if foreign investment rules are relaxed in the future.

GB