HISTORY

RELIANCE GROUP

The Reliance Group, founded by Dhirubhai H. Ambani (1932-2002), is

India's largest private sector enterprise, with businesses in the energy
and materials value chain. Group’s annual revenues are in excess of
USD 27 billion. The flagship company, Reliance Industries Limited, is a
Fortune Global 500 company and is the largest private sector company
in India. Backward vertical integration has been the cornerstone of the
evolution and growth of Reliance. Starting with textiles in the late
seventies,
Reliance pursued a strategy of backward vertical
integration in polyester,fibre,
intermediates,plastics,petrochemicals,petroleumrefiningand oil and
gas exploration and production – to be fully integrated along the
materials and energy valuechain.The Group's activities span
exploration and production of oil and gas, petroleum refining and
marketing, petrochemicals (polyester, fiber intermediates,
plasticsandchemicals), textiles and retail. Reliance enjoys global
leadership in its businesses; The Group exports products in excess of
USD 15 billion to more than 100 countries in the world. There are
more than 25,000 employees on the rolls of Group Companies. Major
Group Companies are Reliance Industries Limited (including main
subsidiaries Reliance Petroleum Limited and Reliance Retail limited)
and Reliance Industrial Infrastructure Limited.

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FOUNDER PROFILE
"Growth has no limit at Reliance. I keep revising my vision.
Only when you can
dream It, you can do it."

Dhirubhai H. Ambani
Founder Chairman Reliance Group
December 28, 1932 - July 6, 2002

Dhirubhai Ambani founded Reliance as a textile company and led its

evolution as a global leader in
the materials and energy value chain businesses.

BOARD OF DIRECTORS OF RELIANCE INDUSTRIES

LIMITED

Mukesh D. Ambani
Chairman & Managing Director

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Nikhil R. Meswani Hital R. Meswani
H.S.Kohli
Executive Director Executive Director Executive
Director
RELIANCE FRESH
APKA FRESH APKE PADAOS ME

India’s Fortune 500 private sector giant, Reliance Industries

Ltd, has, in fact, been first off the blocks by
Launching its first Reliance Fresh outlets in Hyderabad,

Reliance fresh is the retail chain division of reliance industries of India

which is headed by mukesh ambani. Reliance has entered into this
segment by opening new retail stores into almost every metropolitan

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and regional area of India. Reliance plans to invest rs25000 crores in
the next 4 years in their retail division and plans to begin retail stores
in 784 cities across the country.
The reliance fresh supermarket chain is
ril’s rs25, 000 crore venture and it plans to add more stores across
different, and eventually have a pan-India footprint by year 2011. The
super marts will sell fresh fruits and vegetables, staples, groceries,
fresh juice bars and dairy products and also will sport a separate
enclosure and supply-chain for non-vegetarian products. Besides, the
stores would provide direct employment to 5 lakh young Indians and
indirect job opportunities to a million people, according to the
company. The company also has plans to train students and
housewives in customer care and quality services for part-time jobs.

Reliance Fresh is the convenience store

format which forms part of the retail business of Reliance Industries
of India which is headed by Mukesh Ambani. Reliance has entered
into this segment by opening new retail stores at Hyderabad on 3
November 2006. Reliance plans to invest 25000 crores in the next 4
years in their retail division and plans to begin retail stores in 784
cities across India. The company already has in excess of 560
reliance fresh outlets across the country. These stores sell fresh fruits
and vegetables, staples, groceries, fresh juice bars and dairy
products.

Post launch, in a dramatic shift in its

positioning and mainly due to the circumstances prevailing in UP, West
Bengal and Orissa, it was mentioned recently in news Dailies that,
Reliance Retail is moving out of stocking fruits and vegetables.
Reliance Retail has decided to minimize its exposure in the fruit and
vegetable business and position Reliance Fresh as a pure play super
market focusing on categories like food, FMCG, home, consumer
durables, IT and wellness, with food accounting for the bulk of the
business. The company may not stock fruit and vegetables in some
states, Orissa being one of them.

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 Though Reliance Fresh is not exiting the
fruit and vegetable business altogether, it has decided not to compete
with local vendors partly due to political reasons, and partly due to its
inability to create a robust supply chain. This is quite different from
what the firm had originally planned. When the first Reliance Fresh
store opened in Hyderabad last October, not only did the company said
the store’s main focus would be fresh produce like fruits and
vegetables at a much lower price, but also spoke at length about its
“farm-to-fork’’ theory.

The idea the company spoke about was to

source from farmers and sell directly to the consumer removing
middlemen out of the way. Reliance Fresh, Reliance Mart, Reliance
Digital, Reliance Trendz, Reliance Footprint, Reliance Wellness,
Reliance Jewels, Reliance Timeout and Reliance Super are various
formats that Reliance has rolled out.

In addition, Reliance Retail has entered into

an alliance with Apple for setting up a chain of Apple Specialty Stores
branded as iStore, starting with Bangalore.

The company is planning on opening up 6

stores in Bangalore by the middle of February (2006) and an additional
7 stores by the end of February. The store’s size would vary from 1,500
sq ft to 3,000 sq ft, which will stock fresh fruits and vegetables,
staples, FMCG products and dairy products. Each store is said to be
within a radius of 1-2 km of each other, in relation to the concept of a
neighbour store. However, this is only the entry roll-out that the
company has planned. Bangalore is said to have 40 stores in all by the
end of the year.

Reliance Fresh would carry fresh fruits and

vegetables, staples, top-up grocery, non-food items and dairy products
and a whole lot of other categories at very competitive prices. All the
stores opened in the city have an average area of about 1,800 sq ft

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and an average of about 20 sales associates attending to customers in
each store open from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. on all seven days of the week.

IMPACT OF RELINCE FRESH MARKETING POLICY

ON FARMERS AND AGRI - PRODUCER

Farmers in Belgaum are only too happy to offer

their produce to Reliance at better rates and with the vegetable supply
from Belgaum. The unit at Halga is strategically based at the hub of
the vegetable growing hinterland of Belgaum district, where more than
60% of the farmers in the district are engaged in growing vegetables.
Reliance has been issued licences to procure vegetables from farmers
and the company has been promptly paying the cess to APMC.

About 30 tempo loads of vegetables are

supplied to Goa everyday and more than 70% of the vegetables from
Belgaum are sent to the coastal areas. The farmers in the district are
pleased with the new development, as they are being paid a better
rate as compared to the brokers. We do not have to bother about the
brokerage and other costs that we earlier used to pay, said a farmer.

Reliance FRESH’ is as yet an unfamiliar name at Velanthavalam, a sun-

soaked village in Palakkad district in north Kerala. So is ‘Ranger
Farms’, a Reliance subsidiary, which has discreetly occupied a
warehouse in the heart of the village. Every day between 30 and 50
tonnes each of an amazing variety of vegetables are sold there.
Commission agents estimated the daily turnover for each of these
vegetable varieties at between Rs.25 lakh and Rs.35 lakh, with the
tomato season from August to December bringing in an additional
Rs.50 lakh a day.

The atmosphere at the Reliance collection centre at

Kozhinjampara was strikingly different from the crowd, the commotion,
the dirt and the dust at the auction market at Velanthavalam. A young
agriculture graduate, the company’s collection official, evaluated the
quality of the produce, advised farmers on market trends and the
company’s next requirement and also paid farmers “in cash, on the

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 spot”. The price was “at least one or two rupees more” a kilogram than
what farmers got from commission agents at auction markets.

Reliance scouts are wooing farmers in several

other districts, offering them higher prices, electronic weighing, on-
the-spot cash payment, extension services and, importantly, an
assured market for their produce. In almost all the places where it has
been able to commit groups of farmers to be corporate suppliers,
Reliance has encouraged them to try out new varieties, to change their
cropping and harvesting patterns and even grow “exotic” vegetables
for which they are offered a higher price and an assured market
Reliance’s sources disclose, with the company also buying farm-fresh
vegetables regularly for its fledgling wholesale business within the
State and fruits such as banana and pineapple and the entire range of
spices from various harvesting centers in Kerala to be sold (under its
brand name) in over 350 stores throughout India.

SLEPT ANALYSIS
1) Social environment

Under the social environment effect hoping to usher in a socio-

economic revolution in Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand, Mukesh
Ambani-led Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) is all set to create at least
500,000 jobs through its jumbo Rs.80 billion investment in its agri-
food retail network to be launched Tuesday in the two north Indian
states.

"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 the Independence Day when we
launch the first phase of our jumbo operation," Reliance Fresh store
would be spread over 4,500 sq. ft. and would serve as the

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neighborhood convenience store offering fruits and vegetables, staple
foods, dairy and FMCG (fast moving consumer goods) products.

The hypermarkets would be spread over

an area of 150,000 sq. ft. and sell apparel, consumer durables, IT and
lifestyle products, and home furnishings besides all the goods available
in Reliance Fresh stores. Community facilities including a health centre
and pharmacy, and a vocational training centre to assist youth in
tapping employment avenues would also be provided at these centers.
Sixty-eight Town Centers, each spread over 130,000 sq. ft. would be
in place in most of the 70 district headquarters of Uttar Pradesh by the
end of next year.

Poised to usher a new paradigm in rural

areas, the agri-business vision of Reliance Retail is to build
infrastructure for efficiency, value addition, logistics and market access
to improve farm incomes, create an efficient market place for the true
price discovery of farm produce, drive major initiatives to bring the
best technology and thereby bring about drastic improvements in farm
practices

2) Legal environment
In this environment govt. plays his legal role to develop the mentioned
industry. He makes suitable law for the multi-dimensional growth of
the industry. Govt. has also fixed a limited FDI in this sector, no body
will invest more money from this limit, but after liberalization govt.
changes his policy.
Liberalization of the Indian
economy and rationalisation of business procedures have already
ensured a high economic growth with a rapidly expanding base for the
manufacturing and hi-end services sectors. Fresh avenues for gainful
employment to a predominantly young and talented population have
created high disposable incomes that translate in to higher

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consumption and thus better opportunities for all verticals of retail to
flourish. The country's dynamic retail landscape presents a grand
opportunity to investors from across the globe, to use India as a
strategic business hub.
prices than what they received from the
erstwhile traders/middlemen. Corporate retailers like ITC, Godrej,
Reliance, AV Birla and many others have already established the farm
linkages. Indian farmers are finally making good money, after
centuries of social and economic exploitation. The Indian government
too has chipped in with a massive loan waiver worth Rs 60,000 crore
to lighten the farmers' debt burden

3) Economic environment

Currently, the India retail market is $332.8 billion (Rs 13,30,000

crore) strong, growing at the rate of 10.8% per annum, as per Images
F&R Research estimates. Of this, the share of organised retail in 2007
is estimated to be only 5.9%, which is $19.6 billion (Rs 78,300 crore).
But this modern retail segment grew at the rate of 42.4% in 2007, and
is expected to maintain a faster growth rate over the next three years,
especially in view of the fact that major global players and Indian
corporate houses are seen entering the fray in a big way. Even at the
going rate, organized retail is expected to touch $57.5 billion (Rs
2,300 crore) by 2010, constituting roughly 13$ of the total retail
market. With several states in the country permitting retailers to
purchase produce directly from farmers, the farmers too are adapting
to the new opportunity to cultivate assigned crops and take special
care of the same. This gets them instant credit at higher.

At the heart of the India growth story is

its population, the generators of wealth, both as producers and
consumers. With the largest young population in the world - over 890
million people below 45 years of age, India indeed makes a

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resplendent market. The country has more English speaking people
than in the whole of Europe taken together. Its 300 million odd middle
class, the 'real' consumers, has attracted the attention of the world,
and as the economy grows so does India's middle class. It is estimated
that 70 million Indians earn a salary of over $19,500 a year, a figure
that is set to rise to 140 million by 2011. The number of effective
consumers is expected to swell to over 600 million by this time -
sufficient to establish India as one of the largest consumer markets of
the world.

India's rural markets offer a sea of an opportunity for the

retail sector. The urban-rural split in consumer spending stands at
9:11, with rural India accounting for 55% of private retail
consumption. Currently the Indian retail market is estimated at Rs
13,30,000 crore, and almost half of this growing retail market at
present lies in rural India, which is a tremendous growth sector that
needs to be tapped with care.

In the overall retail pie food and grocery

is the dominant category with 59.5% share, valued at Rs 7,92,000
crore (USD 198.2 billion), followed by Clothing and Accessories with a
9.9% share at Rs 1,31,300 crore ($32.9 billion). Interestingly, out-of-
home food (catering) services (Rs 71,300 crore/$17.8 billion) has
overtaken jewellery (Rs 69,400 crore) to become the third largest
retail category, with a 5.4% market share - this largely reflects the
massive employment opportunities to youngsters in the services
sector, larger number of nuclear families where normally both male
and female partners are employed, and accompanying changes in
consumer lifestyles.

4) Political environment

This environment is very important from the view of these particular

topics, because every way would pass through the political coridor.The
Government of India has succeeded in its reform process; the economy
is poised to grow at an annual rate of 5% during 2005-2010. The

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reforms include policies to woo foreign investors, make import duties
in compliance with WTO commitments and customize the EXIM policy
to boost imports.

Due to some political region at least

three major cities saw protests in May against Reliance, India’s largest
corporation, entering the business of retailing fresh vegetables and
fruits through its brand Reliance Fresh. In Ranchi and Indore, the
protests had political backing and turned violent.

The protestors, mostly street vendors,

fear the company’s low prices will destroy their market. While it is too
early to know if their fears are founded in reason or hype, the protests
also stem from the fact that they feel cheated by a government that is
in a hurry to promote large retail businesses and refuses to keep its
promises made to small vendors and retailers, who control about 95
per cent of the country’s overall retail business. India has an estimated
12 million street vendors in its cities—the 2004 National Policy for
Urban Street Vendors pegs it at 10 million—and roughly 2.5 per cent
of each city’s population is engaged in vending on streets.

Many visible corporate brands are into

the retail business: Reliance, ITC, Bharti, Big Bazaar, Godrej and
Subhiksha. India has not allowed FDI in multi-brand retailing. But
international behemoths like Wal-Mart, which has a deal with Bharti,
are raring for joint ventures. (Wal-Mart is world’s largest retailer and
the second largest corporation. Labour unions, women’s rights groups,
and grassroots organizations have long argued that the reason for
Wal-Mart’s cheap prices is how shoddily it treats its employees. Wal-
Mart had to leave Germany and South Korea because it did not get the
kind of room for its policies as in the US and other countries.)

5) Technological environment

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India’s organized retail industry, constituting 3 per cent of the total
retail, is indeed on a growth path. It has necessitated the development
of sophisticated IT solutions to enable more profitability, efficiency and
an enriching customer experience. Retailing is the second largest
income generator in India after agriculture and constitutes 38 per cent
to gross national income. Dynamic Vertical Solutions Pvt Ltd, based in
Gurgaon, has already made a mark in the field by providing complete
end-to-end solutions for different types of retailers. Atanu Ghose,
Technology Head at DVS and an IT veteran with 37 years of
experience, who was in Bangalore recently to attend FRO2008 — the
Franchise and Retail show — shares some of his perceptions on IT
deployment in retail sector.

Technology is a one-time investment but the return

on investment is continuous. For the first three years ROI may not be
there but then onwards there is no cost. Many of the large retailers
spent crores of rupees on doing up their premises but buy some cheap
software at Point of Sale (PoS) for computerized invoicing. I think it is
a wrong strategy because it doesn’t help you to find out who your
customers are, it doesn’t generate information on stocks and shelf
space analysis is very critical. Why do some products move faster
while others don’t? Mere PoS computerization is not going to help in
these matters.

Technology-driven companies like Wal-Mart have

minute information, even to the point, let us say, which truck will
reach their warehouse in next 45 minutes. Proper supply chain is
essential and customer experience is very critical for retail success.
The retailer has to ensure that customer is not required to hang
around or take too much time to spot his product. If you are a large
retailer, even a one percent saving makes a huge difference. The
problem with ordering through phone is that it may not be properly
registered or the person concerned might forget about the call 15
minutes later. If you can’t provide the product or service, the customer
will go to next shop.

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COMPARATIVE DATA OF DIFFERENT
RETAIL STORE

Compiling data from various sources - Annual reports, Magazines,

Websites etc Here is how Pantaloon Retail, Vishal, Trent,
Shoppers Stop and Spencers stack up against each other in the
following key factors.

Retail Space under Operations [in million sft at the end of March-
2008]:

• Pantaloon Retail - 8.9

• Vishal - 2.2
• Shoppers Stop - 1.6
• Spencers - 1.2
• Trent - 1.1

Retail Sales for FY 2008 [in Rs million]:

• Pantaloon Retail - 55,218

• Vishal - 10,053
• Shoppers Stop - 11,901
• Spencers - 8,061
• Trent - 7,162

Retail Gross Margins [in %ge]:

• Pantaloon Retail - 33.7

• Vishal - 44.1
• Shoppers Stop - 36.7
• Spencers - 14.4 [Lowest in the Industry]
• Trent - 42

Retail Real Estate Expense as Percentage of FY08 Sales:

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 • Pantaloon Retail - 7.2
• Vishal - 6.0
• Shoppers Stop - 8.6
• Spencers - 8.8
• Trent - 3.5

Retail Space Addition in FY 2008 [%ge growth YoY]:

• Pantaloon Retail - 67.5

• Vishal - 68.6
• Shoppers Stop - 36.9
• Spencers - 133.8
• Trent - 27.3

Retail Revenue in INR / sft in FY 2008:

• Pantaloon Retail - 7,788

• Vishal - 5,838
• Shoppers Stop - 8,585
• Spencers - 9,113
• Trent - 7,575

SOURCE: - http://relianceretail.blogspot.com/search/label/India-
Retail-Business-2

SALES STATUS OF DIFFERENT RETAIL

STORE
Top 10 Food and Grocery retailers in India as chosen by
respondents [Multiple selections were allowed]

Apna Bazaar - 42%, Subhiksha - 26%, Reliance Fresh - 21%,

Trinethra / More Retail - 11%, Food Bazaar - 11%, Hyper city -10%,
Metro - 7%, Spencer's 6%, Big Apple - 5% and Sabka Bazaar - 3%. It

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was really interesting to note that Apna Bazaar was the most sought
after place for Food & Groceries.

Top Lifestyle Store Retailers in India [Multiple selections were

allowed]
Big Bazaar - 52%, Vishal Mega mart - 17%, Shopper's Stop -13%,
Landmark - 12%, Pantaloon - 10%, Globus - 8% , Westside -3% and
Trent - 2%.

Most Frequently Visited Book and Music Store:

Crossword - 5%, oxford Bookstore -2%, Plant M - 2% and Books and
Beyond - 2%.

Most Frequently Visited Consumer Electronics Store:

Next - 11%, e-Zone - 4%, Reliance Digital -3% and Future Bazaar
2%. I am not sure why don't we see Tata Croma electronics in this
segment.

RETAIL VALUE OF DEFFERENT RETAIL

STORE

Value Retail same store sales (SSS) growth rebounded in Nov'07 to

40% after a 25% decline in Oct'07, due to late Diwali this year. This
implies a growth of mere 2.8% in the festive season (Oct-Nov’07
combined). Lifestyle SSS growth in Nov is at 30% as against a

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decline of 7% in Oct. Collectively in the festive season SSS growth is
9% compared to over 20% growth maintained for most of the months
of the previous fiscal. The chart below represents sales mix of
Pantaloon Retail India Ltd. Big Bazaar and Food Bazaar still account for
bulk of the sales for the company.

The company has added retail sales

space aggressively in last financial year. In FY2005, the company
added 1 mn sft while it declined to 0.85 mn sft in FY06 and zoomed to
2.7 mn sft in FY07. This FY, the company has been little bit slow due
to unrealistic realty prices and has managed to add mere 1.5 mn sft till
the end of Nov.The company is expected to clock sales of Rs 7,400
crore for FY2008 but going by the recent reported numbers, a
slowdown is imminent.

NEWS ERA

1) Reliance Fresh: Move to Delhi

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Source: - Food Business review/Date-30th Jan 2008

Reliance's move into Delhi is part of a

second expansion push following the firm's successful entry into retail,
which was initiated through its opening of 11 Reliance Fresh outlets in
Hyderabad in November last year. So far, the growing number of 2,300
square foot stores, offering around 200 SKUs of vegetables and staple
foods, has been well received. As well as the obvious benefits of
freshness and cheap prices, customers are impressed by
unprecedented standards in store fit out, strong merchandising and
the availability of an albeit limited range of chilled and frozen products.
Pleased with its development so far, Delhi is an obvious next step for
Reliance Fresh.
The city has a conurbation of 15 million people
and is a key region enjoying economic growth and a resultant
burgeoning middle class. These shoppers are increasingly aspiration
and keen to spend. This current pipeline of stores planned for Delhi is
likely to range in size from 2000-5000 square feet. And looking ahead,
Reliance has greater ambitions still. It plans to open stores across the
country of up to 10,000 square feet under the Reliance Fresh Plus
fascia by the end of the year, with the possibility of hypermarkets in
excess of 100,000 square feet. That India's consumer economy offers
tremendous potential does not really come into question, but one
should not lose perspective. Of India's 1.1 billion populations, the
middle class is estimated to stand at around 150 million people.
The rest are poor - many living in conditions of
extreme poverty. Also, serious issues surrounding India's weak
transport infrastructure, poor standards of public health and a need to
alleviate an imminent shortage of skilled workers should not be
underestimated. There are undoubtedly significant challenges ahead
for Reliance. However, by leveraging its brand strength and emerging
logistical infrastructure, it is well placed to capitalize on the new
opportunities presenting themselves and to defend itself from the
pending onslaught of competition from both home and abroad.

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2) Reliance Fresh opens six more retail stores in AP
Source: - Reliencefresh.info

The Reliance Fresh retail rush is on. The

company opened six more stores at Saket, Dilsukhnagar, Bowenpally,
Vengalraonagar, Miyapur and Uppal, taking the total to 17 in the city.

According to company sources, "It is an

ongoing process and only six more stores have been opened. But when
we reach a substantial figure, we will definitely come out in a big way."
The sources said that the 17 stores put together have been averaging
around Rs 15-16 lakh daily and around 800-1,200 footfalls daily.

The six stores with a size of 2,500-4,000 sq ft

each made around Rs 6.5 lakh in the first one week, he added. In the
first phase, the company opened 11 pilot stores on November 3,
offering fresh vegetables, fruits, flowers and grocery items. It plans to
touch a figure of 40 stores in the twin cities in the coming days.

"Company is very glad that it is opening about

40 stores in Andhra Pradesh alone by this March end. By June, we hope
to open between 75 and 100 stores in the State on the Fresh format.
There are 21 stores in Hyderabad, and seven in Vijayawada and Guntur
bringing the total to 56 excluding the three opened here,"

3) Reliance fresh store in Chennai & Bangalore

recently

Source: - Business Today/ 25th January 2007

Reliance Fresh opened 12 "Fresh" outlets in

Chennai increasing its total store count to 40. Reliance is still testing
its retail concepts by controlled entry beginning in the southern
states. The company is planning on opening up 6 stores in Bangalore
by the middle of February (2006) and an additional 7 stores by the end

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of February. The store’s size would vary from 1,500 sq ft to 3,000 sq ft,
which will stock fresh fruits and vegetables, staples, FMCG products
and dairy products. Each store is said to be within a radius of 1-2 km of
each other, in relation to the concept of a neighbour store. However,
this is only the entry roll-out that the company has planned. Bangalore
is said to have 40 stores in all by the end of the year.

4) Reliance Fresh Belgaum retail outlet and

Distribution Unit
Source: - Oheraldo.in

Admire Reliance Fresh initiative to help farmers

paying them directly and eliminating middlemen, I wish the Belgaum
distribution unit would grow bigger in near future, creating
employment and opportunities, Reliance fresh should tie up with
Agricultural collages in Belgaum to promote seed development and
more emphasis on biotic plantation then chemical and hybrid
vegetables. Farmers in Belgaum are only too happy to offer their
produce to Reliance at better rates and with the vegetable supply from
Belgaum. Belgaum district, where more than 60% of the farmers in
the district are engaged in growing vegetables.Sudhatai Hiremath,
Secretary of the Agriculture Produce Market Committee (APMC), the
apex body controlling the procurement and sale of vegetables and
other farm produce, said Reliance has been issued licences to procure
vegetables from farmers and the company has been promptly paying
the cess to APMC. Officials disclosed that Reliance plans to open seven
outlets in Goa and attempts are being made to supply farm-fresh
vegetables from Belgaum at rates cheaper than that offered by the
Belgaum vegetable traders. This is because Reliance will buy
vegetables directly from farmers, eliminating middlemen in the
process. About 30 tempo loads of vegetables are supplied to Goa
everyday and more than 70% of the vegetables from Belgaum are sent
to the coastal areas.

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5) Reliance eyes Punjab as new agro-retail hub

Source: - The Tribune/Date-21st March 2006

Reliance has also entered into collaboration with Punjab Agro Food
Corporation so that farm & retail linkages with local communities can
be executed with ease. Punjab will become RIL’s agricultural hub as
well as a mainstream centre for Reliance's other retail plans in north
India. The fruits and vegetables from Himachal Pradesh and other
states will come into these centers. These centers will also help
farmers get the latest technical know-how & quality farm equipment
through PAFC.

The farm produce would be marketed by

Reliance at a pre-fixed price for all its supermarkets. Many exciting &
new opportunities are opening up in Punjab as the sudden upsurge &
rush of corporate into the state continues. The state has long been the
breadbasket of the country. But now it looks like it's graduating into a
real hub for India on the global scale as India finally wakes up to the
agriculture opportunity.

6) Reliance Retail faces problems in Mumbai

Source: - By Bullish Indian

Reliance Retail has ambitious plans of having

100 Reliance Fresh stores in Mumbai by this year end. However
Reliance retail is facing severe margin pressures because of the
extremely low prices offered and also due to the high cost of inventory
stored. Sources from reliance retail say that they are willing to incur
losses initially in order to boost their market share. Reliance sure has
the financial power to follow the loss-leader strategy and kill smaller
competitors.

SUGGESTION AND RECOMMENDATION

 To be improved the parking facility.

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  Range of products should be maintained.
 Pricing of products compared to other stores should always
monitor.
 Freshness & quality of products should be always checked.
 Teach the counterman how to behave with customer and
maintain Courtesy and helpfulness of store staff.
 There is a long delay at the billing/payment counter, mainly
because of less number of billing machines.
 There is always a lot of crowd at the weighing counter of the
vegetable section. People do not follow queue system but charge
directly to the counter without considering that other people are
in the line. The placement of the weighing counter is also not
appropriate, creating lot of inconvenience of shopping.

 Generate employment in that area in which the retail store is

situated.
 Company should do some CSR initiatives in that area to develop
the economic condition of people living in that area.
 Customer facility should always be under watch.
 Store should provide free home delivery facility.
 Company should take initiative to open new outlets in sub-urban
area also to improve the life standard of people living there.
 Company should ensure that quality and quantity of the
commodity is accurate.
 Company should provide regular training to their staff and aware
him with the modern technique of selling and customer dealing.

REFRENCES

For successfully completing this term paper, following web portals,

books, News paper are consulted.

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 http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/RIL_among_worlds_100_mos
t_respected_companies/articleshow/3453197.cms
 http;//ril.com/major Subsidiaries & Associates :: Reliance
Industries Limited "Toluene" Reliance Industries award
 "Conference on "Environment-Awareness-Enforcement" New
Delhi.
 http://www.hindu.com/2007/09/30/stories/2007093057550100.
htm date :Sept. 30 2007
 http://relianceretail.blogspot.com/2007/07/dairy-pure-milk-in-
reliance-fresh.html
 http://www.foodreview.com/article_feature.asp?
guid=E30CA41D-30F2-4486-8964-796B4FBC6262
 http://www.relianceinsider.com/2008/12/reliance-retail-india-
job-layoff-cut-mukesh-ambani/
 http://www.livepunjab.com/news/reliance_eyes_punjab_as_new
_agro_retail_hub-21860.html
 http://www.bullishindian.com/reliance-retail-faces-problems-in-
mumbai/379/
 http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/weakness-
continues-sterlite-mm-plunge-8/15/51/50474/on
 http://www.dancewithshadows.com/business/reliance-fresh.asp
 http://www.ril.com/html/business/business_retail.html
 http://belgaumnri.blogspot.com/2008/01/reliance-fresh-
belgaum-retial-outlet.html
 http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_hb5936/is_/ai_n23950565
 http://indiaretailbiz.wordpress.com/2006/11/03/11-reliance-
fresh-open-to-customers-petty-traders-have-no-reason-to-
worry-say-reliance-officials/
 sushubh.net/1483-reliance-retail/comment-page-25 - 49k –

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  www.livemint.com/articles/2007/08/27005400/UP-govt8217s-
decision-is-a.html - 95k -
 www.india-today.com/btoday/20061231/cover1.html - 61k
 www.tribuneindia.com/2007/20070509/jplus1.htm - 40k -
 www.andhranews.net/India/2008/July/26-Reliance-TimeOut-
Comes-55815.asp - 14k -
 www.uk.reuters.com/article/rbssTechMediaTelecomNews/idUKBO
M32391920080112 - 56k –
 www.businessworld.in/index.php/Miscellaneous/Foods-With-
History.html - 73k -comparison

Following News paper are consulted given below:-

1) Business Today.
2) The Times of India.
3) The Tribune.

Magazines:-

1) Business world.
2) India Today.

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