SUBHIKSHA CASE STUDY

Subhiksha And the Use of Information Technology

THE INDIAN RETAIL INDUSTRY

On the basis of a report published by the India Retail Forum, the Organized retail accounted
for Rs 55,000 crore (about $12.4 billion) in the year 2006 and still its just about only 4.6% of
the total Indian Retail Value that was about Rs 12,00,000 crore ($270 billion). It means that
the major portion of the Indian Retail market is in unorganized retail unlike USA where
everything is mainly organized retail. However organized retail in India is expected to grow
at a rapid rate of about 37% and 42% in 2007 and 2008 respectively. ( IMAGES India Retail
Report 2007)

Of the last years $270 billion of Retail Value, the major portion was dominated by Food and
Grocery Retail which was about 60% of the value (about $160 billion). However in the food
and Grocery retail more than 99% of the market is dominated by the neighborhood Kirana
Stores (Mom and Pop Stores)

It is expected that the organized retail will add over Rs 2,00,000 crore (about $ 45 billion) by
the year 2010.

It is also expected that by the year 2010 the organized retail will generate employment for
over 2.5 million people in various retail operations and about another 10 million employment
in retail support activities including supply chain and logistics, contract production and
processing, retail real estate development and management,etc.

Organized retail in India has the potential to add over Rs 2,00,000 crore ($45 billion)
business by the Year 2010 generating employment for some 2.5 million people in various
retail operations and over 10 million additional workforce in retail support activities
including contract production & processing, supply chain & logistics, retail real estate
development & management etc., ( IMAGES India Retail Report 2007)
Indian Organized Retail Industry:

Source: India Retail Report 2005~Images-KSA Technopak.

www.imagesretail.com/india_retail_report.htm

Concomitant with the growing share of organized retail is the increasing contribution of IT in
this sector. Springboard Research estimates the IT revenue from retail segment to rise to US$
1.07 billion by 2010 from the current level of US$ 253 million circa 2006. IT contributes to
the current growth in the retail sector through many applications. (India Retail Report
2005~Images-KSA Technopak.)

Major Retail Players In India at June 2006

Subhiksha earlier was also a regional player which was situated mostly in the southern India
but now, with the growth in the company, it is spreading at a national level to many cities all
over India.

When We look at the competition at the national level for Subhiksha then we can see that
there are basically three other players at the national level. They are :

Brand Level of Region of

Name Outlet Type Operation Operation Locations Ownership
 Across all
major
Spencers Supermarkets National All India cities RPG

Across all
Reliance major
Fresh Supermarket National All India cities Reliance

Across all
Food major
Baazar Supermarkets National All India cities Pantaloon

Apart from the above National Level Players, there are a number of Regional players also in
the Industry which have a very strong foothold in their particular areas. Thus these players
also are an important competition to Subhiksha which also had originally started as a regional
player.
As Subhiksha is expanding, similarly the other Regional players are also expanding to
different cities.
Mainly they expand by first targeting all the big metro cities in India namely Delhi, Mumbai,
Kolkata, Madras, Bangalore, etc and then move to smaller cities.
The major regional players that Subhiksha is facing Competition are:

Brand Level Of Region of

Name Operation Operations Ownership Outlet Type Locations

Bangalore,
Delhi,
Food Southern Chennai,
World Regional India Dfi Group Supermarkets Mumbai

Chennai,
Bangalore,
Hyderabad,
Nilgiri’s Pondicherry
Southern Franchisee small town of
Nilgiri’s Regional India Pvt. Ltd Supermarkets Tamil Nadu

Major cities in
Andhra
Southern The Trinethra Pradesh and
Trinethra Regional India Group Supermarkets Tamil nadu

Southern Fabmall India Bangalore and

Fabmall Regional India Pvt Ltd Supermarkets Chennai
 Major cities in
Franchisee Kerala, Tamil
Margin Southern ownership Discount Nadu and
free Regional India model stores Karnataka

Monday to Southern Food Express

Sunday Regional India India Ltd. Supermarkets Bangalore

Star India Western Trent(Tata Ahmedabad,

Bazaar Regional India Group) Hypermarkets Mumbai

Western Spar – India

Spar Regional India Ltd Supermarkets Mumbai

Mainly
Namdhari's southern Namdharis
Fresh Regional India Group Supermarkets Bangalore

Western
Adanis Regional India Adani Group Supermarkets Gujarat
Department of
Food &
Public
Distribution
& Govt. of
Super Northern India
Bazaar Regional India Cooperative Supermarkets Delhi

Vitan DSI Ltd

Company
owned and
Southern franchisee Chennai and
Vitan Regional India model Supermarkets Bangalore

The list provided above is just a small list of a large number of players in this market. The
retail industry is seeing a boom in the food and Grocery Retailing but the only thing that
matters in today’s world is as to how efficiently can you manage your operations.
HISTORY OF SUBHIKSHA

A literal translation of the word Subhiksha means "One that gives all good things in Life".
This vision was started in India about ten years ago by Mr Mr R. Subramanian. The journey
from a single small store in Chennai to about 760 stores in 10 years has been a phenomenal
growth for this company.

Source : http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2005/05/26/images/2005052602120401.jpg

Entering into the Retail Scenario 10 years ago :

The history of Subhiksha dates back to the year 1997 when Mr R. Subramanian thought of
the idea of entering into the Retail Industry in India. Back then in India Retail industry was
almost a non existent one. India was characterised basically by small mom and pop retail
stores also known in the local parlance as "Kirana" Stores.(Interview With R. Subramanium,
see reference) They were very small stores catering to a very small nearby locality.
A Local Kirana Store

Source : http://www.hindu.com/2006/11/07/images/2006110716030301.jpg
Source : http://www.hindu.com/mp/2007/09/08/images/2007090852370101.jpg

Subhiksha felt that as India was growing and so was the middle class. They realized that if
they have to gain volumes then the top end consumers will not be the target, and so they
chose to focus on the growing middle class income consumers generally referred to as the
"aam aadmi".
The logo shown below of Subhiksha portrays that it’s the right of an average Indian to
save money and its Subhiksha that helps him in achieving this.

Source : http://www.moneycontrol.com/news_image_files/subhiksha_logo.jpg

Establishing In Chennai:
The first of the retail stores was established in Chennai in 1997. This was about a 1500 sq
feet big store. The size of the store was relatively bigger than the size of a local mom and pop
store in India but was much smaller than that of the major organized players in the retail
market like Big Bazaar, etc
As of today’s situation Subhiksha has literally more number of Stores in Chennai than the
number of Post offices there. Subhiksha thrives here on a Saturation coverage, i.e they have a
store in an area of every 1 - 1.5 sq. Km

Investment and Financing Strategy:

Growing to 5 states in the country:

Current situation of the Company:

As of now Subhiksha has about 760 stores in Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Ahemdabad,
Vadodara and Hyderabad and it plans to increase it to 1000 by end of 2007.
It had revenues of about Rs 8.11 billion in the year ended March 2007. With the curent rate of
expansion Subhiksha is hoping to reach the Rs. 50 billion mark in the next 2-3 years.

Product Portfolios :
As of now the company has diversified into four business verticals:

1. Supermarket: Includes quality groceries, packaged foods, cosmetics and toiletries,

household provisions, etc

2. Fruits and Vegetables: Includes fresh fruits and vegetables sourced directly from farms
on city outskirts by Subhiksha and made available to the consumers at very reasonable prices.
Consumers get fresh produce at best prices.

Source : http://www.subhiksha.in/

3. Pharmacy: Subhiksha stores generally have a in store pharmacy which stores mostly basic
medicines. All medicines are made available to consumers at a flat 10% discount.
Source: http://www.tribuneindia.com/2007/20070201/chd9.jpg

4. Telecom: Subhiksha is recently forayed into mobile retailer business and offers handsets,
recharge cards and accessories from all leading cell phone manufacturers’ at lower prices.

Source : http://aiyoshucksdhatteriki.com/images/subhikshalogo.jpg
GROWTH SNAPSHOT OF SUBHIKSHA :

Dates:
1997 : Entering into the retail market in the country. R Subramanian
Subhiksha thought that entry into retail at that point of time will be a new industry. Primary
focus will be "aam aadmi" i.e. an average middle class Indian person.

March 1997 - Opening of the first retail store in Chennai, India with an investment of about
Rs. 400000 - 500000 (10000 - 12500 US $)

March 1998 - About 10 stores being opened in Chennai City.

June 2000 - Reach the mark of 50 stores in the Chennai region. ICICI ventures joins
Subhiksha.

2002 - Opening up of about 120 - 130 stores in the whole of Tamil Nadu State

2004-05 - Decide to move out of Tamil Nadu and expand to 5 other big states in India namely
Gujarat, Delhi, Mumbai, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka.

2006 - Entry into the Subhiksha mobile shops

 MODEL OF SUBHIKSHA

Subhiksha focuses on two factors for its model. These are called the two C's:
1. Criticality of Cost.
2. Convenience of Buying

What the company is looking for is to provide products at sustainable low prices right at the
customer’s doorsteps. This model has been the key building block for the success of
Subhiksha in making it the oldest discount chain in the country.
Everything that Subhiksha does revolves around these 2 C's

The following sub headings will make it much clearer as to how Subhiksha is integrating all
that it has to achieve the above 2 C’s:

How everything is related to cost savings:

How Subhiksha is able to sell a substantial discount to the MRP in spite of its overheads and
the investment in the Technology?
Subhiksha say that it is possible because of Cost cutting and elimination of Waste wherever
possible
Subhiksha is here for a purpose and it wants to implement a slogan for its customers
"Bachat mein Adhikar"(It’s your right to save money!”)

Edge over competition

Subhiksha has an edge over competition by providing goods to the consumers near their
house and at a cheaper rate all 365 days.

Lower Margins:
The margin on which Subhiksha operates is about 15% which is much lower than the other
big organized retail stores which operate on about a margin of 20%.
However Subhiksha feels that the net margin will increase by about 2.5 - 3% over time as the
costs gets absorbed over a larger base.

More savings to the customers

An interesting fact about Subhiksha is that Subhiksha Pharmacies sell medicines at a flat 10%
discount every day of the year. At the stores customers easily save four - five times more than
what they do at other retail outlets
In an Interview with a Subhiksha Retailer, he mentioned the following thing
“On a yearly basis, Rs 48,000 (about $1200) is what the average household spends on items
such as groceries, vegetables and toiletries. This amounts to Rs 3,000-4,000 (about $100) per
month, and as Subhiksha offers an 8-10 per cent reduction in price on the same items/brands
as other shops, the total saving is about Rs 400 ($10) a month”

Small Store/ Cost saving

The belief of Subhiksha is to set up non – air conditioned small neighbourhood stores
measuring arount 2000 sq ft. It is because of this that Subhiksha is able to compete with the
big retail stores on the regular discounts and also compete with the traditional “father and
son” or “mom and pop” stores on the close proximity to the customers.

Subhiksha: The neighbourhood store

Subhiksha wanted to establish itself as a neigbour hood store. With establishing a vast
network of relatively small stores it wants to establish itself as a neighbourhood store where
people can do shopping on a daily basis thus providing both convenience nd cost benefit to its
consumers.

Everyday low price system (ELDP)

In Subhikhsha the discounts are not restricted to specific days and specific items as prevalant
in other retail formats. Subhiksha follow an Every Day Low Price Scheme (ELDP) where
they offer the lowest prices every single day of the year on almost everything that is sold
from the stores.

Combination of Discount model and Carpet Bombing model

Apart from being a good discount store another aim of Subhiksha is to be in close proximity
to its consumers and aim for a greater penetration in all markets where they operate. Thus
apart from following the discount model of Walmart, Subhiksha also follows the Carpet
Bombing model used by Starbucks so that it can be at nearly every corner of a city. The
business model of Subhiksha is based on creating multiple stores n a city for customer
convenience.
The launch of a large number of stores will enable Subhiksha to balance costs like the supply
chain and advertisement and media spends right from the beginning.

This strategy being followed by Subhiksha is driven by the fact that it is not a destination
store but Subhiksha is a frequent shopping location for the daily household needs of the
consumers. The reason that Subhiksha gives for that is that categories like fruits and
vegetables, food and beverages have to be within arms length of the consumers. Subhiksha
also says that it is better if the cannibalization in cities happens within its own stores than
within different stores.

Lower Infrastructure cost

Subhiksha has small stores which do not allow the customers to browse and shop like the
other retailers in the market. Subhiksha feels that for buying grocery or cosmetics, the
customers look for a quick purchase rather than the shopping experience. It is a no frill store.
Subhiksha has positioned itself as a store for the "Value Conscious" customer. It is a
functional and a transaction - oriented shop

Source : http://www.chennaibest.com/cityresources/Home_Needs/img/subhiksha.jpg
Lease rental system for stores
This gives Subhiksha a greater control on the operations given that they will not have to incur
additional expenses on the franchise and this system makes them able to keep costs low

Centralized Purchasing
Another thing what Subhiksha is doing for cost reduction is of Centralized purchasing for a
large number of stores. This gives them a greater bargaining power and which helps them in
getting greater discounts from the manufacturers and which they pass on to the consumers

Backward linkages with the farm community and the Hub and Spoke model followed
by Subhiksha

Supply Chain and Inventory turnover efficiency

Interestingly, at Subhiksha a person will find a limited choice in some particular product
ranges. Subhiksha stocks generally two or three most popular brands in each product
segment. This generally constitutes about 95% of sales even in stores which stock a large
number of brands. This was implemented in Subhiksha to make its model more efficient in
inventory and supply chain management and offering low prices to the consumers.

MARKETING COMMUNICATION AT SUBHIKSHA

Subhiksha feels that both below the line and above the line marketing activities are important
for its success:
Below the line marketing activities usually comprises of about 10-15% of the overall
marketing spends. Within the Above the Line activities Subhiksha focuses on the use of
Television commercials, Press, Radio and Outdoor activities. About 60-70% of the spends
are on TV and Press.
USE OF INFORMATION TECHLOGY IN THE SUCCESS OF SUBHIKSHA

The retail market is complex and peculiar. India is an extremely cost sensitive market. A
successful retailer must not only have the right product at the right place and at the right time
but must also have the right pricing. Having a comprehensive Information Technology
System helps an organization reach its goals in an effective manner. Subhiksha is a perfect
example of the optimal use of Information Technology for its success. It is however averse to
those technologies which though are beneficial but are very costly to be used in today’s
context.

As of today about 22% of the capital expenditure of Subhiksha is on IT infrastructure. IT

related expenditures comprise over 13% of the total overhead expenditure of Subhiksha

The following are the elements of Subhiksha’s business where they use IT :

Integration of stores across cities

Introduction of Subhiksham Card

An integral use of IT in Subhiksha is the introduction of Subhiksham cards for its consumers.
These cards are issued to customers of Subhiksha who get additional discount every time they
swipe the card at Subhiksha after making a purchase.
At the consumer end it benefits the consumers by increasing their savings by getting them
more special and exclusive offers, special deals, gift hampers ,etc

On the other hand this helps Subhiksha in tracking its consumers and knowing more about
their buying habits.
This card helps in building the brand loyalty of its consumers as well as helps Subhiksha in
effective which helps in Customer Relationship management.

Use of Bar code system

Thus starting from the time of manufacturing to storage, warehousing and distribution and
finally to point of sales (POS), the organized retail industry in India is driven by an efficient
supply chain which in turn is dependent on accurate real time information and good
Information Technology systems.
in today’s demanding world characterized by increasing competition and shrinking margins,
companies are in the need of tools and technologies that will help them in reducing
operational costs, better customer service , minimize shrinkages by maintaining just in time
and accurate inventories.

One of the thing that Subhiksha has adopted is the use of Bar coding System which helps the
identification and billing of a product at the point of sale. This is used instead of punching in
the product codes manually. Introduction of bar codes has become common in the organized
retail industry as it helps in faster checkouts and reduces cues and in turn leads to better and
faster customer service.
Bar coding provides other benefits like customized in-store marketing for Subhiksha by
increasing the cross- selling opportunities, managing discounts, quickly locating
merchandise, checking prices and monitoring of inventory. This is helping Subhiksha in
improving the customer experience at the selling floor

Implementation of Home delivery System

Introduction of Subhiksham card has also made way for better services to customers in the
form of Home Delivery. Now a consumer can place an order to Subhiksha on phone without
mentioning any detail of address, name and landmarks. All he needs to do now is to just read
out the Subhiksha Card number and the order gets delivered right at his doorstep.

Establishment of an Online retail System

Subhiksha had entered into the field of online retailing back in the year 1999. But the system
was not a success and was shut down in two years. The reasons for the failure of such a
system were mainfold. One of the basic reason was that average Indian consumers did not
have access to internet and were also very less aware of it. Lack of infrastructure was also a
reason for the failure of this system.
However Subhiksha has again been trying to venture in this field. Though the static site is
launched the actual launch will be in a couple of months.

Moving on the lines of Convenience to the customers, Subhiksha plans to enter the field of
Online retailing again. The online paltform in
India is picking up slowly but for sure. There have started to become a loyal consumer base
for this kind of shopping experience and Subhiksha does not wants to miss on this aspect of
providing convenience to its consumers

About 35% of Subhikshas sale today comprises of Home Delivery where order is given over
the phone, and which will in future take form of Online retailing
Subhiksah with its carpet bombing strategy and the home delivery and online retailing
strategy is trying to give the following message to its customers "If you dont make it to the
stores, we will reach out to you !"

Stock Tracking
Take one new technologies in the Industry:

Development of its own intelligence system

Wireless retail solution

Subhiksha is working on Wireless Retail solution that will help the outlets to manage demand
and supply of stocks on shelves.
The solution is likely to make available real time information on Price pints of various
commodities stocked in the stores. This technology will also be used for the real time data
capturing and the coordination between the store and supply chain

Demand Estimation through IT

Warehouse, Suppliers, Hardware, Vendors, Strategic Business Partners, Collaborators

and other back end infrastructure etc in real time test mode.

Concerns over Implementation of RFID :

Subhiksha says that there are a lot many technologies which are beneficial for any
organization but are not feasible for implementation because of cost and integration
problems. Example, Radio Frequency Identification Device Tags, though it makes it possible
to locate products physically besides providing information on aspects like value and
dimension of the product, but till they are costly and will not be used by the company as it
will drive the cost of goods higher.
Procurement Model of Big Retail Giants in India
The procurement model of Big emerging retailers in India have been tried to explain with the
help of one existing big retail chain, i.e Reliance Fresh, retailer that prvovides household
goods fruits an vegetables to the consumers at cheaper prices.

Procurement of FMCG products :

Unlike other retailers who purchase FMCG (Fast Moving Consumer Goods) goods from big
distributors, Reliance procures goods directly from the manufacturers. They have a big
distribution centre where all the goods from the various manufacturers arrive, and from there
they are dispatched to various reliance stores across the city according to need.

Procurement of Fruits and Vegetables :

The supply chain model that reliance follows for the procurement of Fruits and Vegetables in
Delhi(a very big city in India) is as follows.
Reliance basically follows a kind of a Hub and Spoke Model for its distribution network. This
service about 25 stores in Delhi NCR region Reliance retail is working on the philosophy of
‘farm to fork’ whereby produce is transported directly from the farmer to the consumer,
thereby eliminating the middlemen and hence bringing the prices at affordable levels. A
diagrammatical presentation of the model is given below:
Explanation of the Model
Reliance has one main Distribution Center in Delhi. This is also knows as the Hub DC. Apart
from this there are 4 other Distribution Centers in the 4 corners of Delhi, (Capital of India)
There are called Mini DC’s and are in East Delhi, Faridabad, Gurgaon (Haryana) and G.T
Road.

Function of Distribution Centers

The Distribution Centers acts as a place where they receive the fruits and Vegetables from the
procurement centers and then they perform the functions of Sorting, Grading and Packaging
before they further distribute the produce further down in the value chain to the Reliance
Fresh Stores

Primaries v/s Secondary Procurements

Generally there are two types of procurements - Primary and Secondary.

Primary Procurement
These are the main procurement of fruits and Vegetables. These procurements are generally
region specific. For example Mangoes generally grow in a particular region in India i.e. the
UP. Same is for Papaya which is mainly grown in the Andhra Pradesh region. Similarly for
Orange which is grown in the Nagpur region, Apple and Pineapple in Himachal Pradesh, etc.

Now what happens is that their REGION SPECIFIC fruits and vegetables are called the
primary produces and they are send from these regions directly to the Distribution Center
HUB in Delhi. Here these produces are sorted, graded and stored.

Next these produces are sent to the Mini DC’s in the respective regions of Delhi. After these
produce reaches the Mini DC’s they are sent to the regions, which are covered by these mini
DC.

Mini DCs generally cover a specific region. For Example the DC in East Delhi generally
feeds all the reliance stores in East Delhi.

Secondary Procurement
The next in the kind of procurement of fruits and vegetables are known as Secondary
Procurement. These procurements are generally local produce, i.e. some fruits and mainly
vegetables that are grown in all regions for example Potatoes, Onions, etc.

Now what happens is that there is no need for the procurement centers to send these produces
to the Main DC HUB. Instead every MINI DC gets serviced by the procurement centers in
their particular regions for these local produces.

MINI DC --- supply to its region the primary + secondary produce. Secure primary produce
from main HUB DC and secondary produce from local suppliers. In this way reliance is able
to reduce the cost by effectively implementing the hub and Spoke model.
Role of Information Technology in Procurement for Subhiksha’s Goods:

As of now the company is diversified into four business verticals namely Supermarket
(includes grocery), Fruits & Vegetables, Pharmacy and Telecom and for each vertical it has a
different procurement system. Below I have tried to find out as to how much of the efficiency
created in Procurement is due to the use and implementation of Information Technology
System:

Role of IT in procurement of FMCG (Fast moving Consumer Goods) goods:

IT role is limited in ordering system for stores linked to a particular depot. Stores place orders
on a simple excel sheet in a given format to the depot which is collated to generate the day’s
order for that particular depot. Stocks are dispatched the next day.
System of determining order for every store – Minimum Bay Quantity (MBQ) system
is followed. There is no continuous replenishment of the stocks (CRS). CRS was tried to be
followed earlier but it did not work due to high amount of damages and pilferages.
There are approx 400 SKUs (stock keeping units) in FMCG – approx 133 are ordered every
day. Remaining SKUs are ordered following a rotation system. MBQs for all the stores are
summed to calculate the depot’s MBQ
Stores hold approx 1 week inventory with them. There is no estimation of demand. Demand
forecasting is not done on any scientific models but rather on the gut feel/targets.
IT role is in making sales to end consumers – through a proper billing system.
Role of IT in Pharmaceuticals:
Subhiksha also runs a Pharmacy where is sells all medicines at a flat discount of 10% all the
year round. This is much more as compared to the other retailers present in the country.
However Information Technology has no role at all to play in this business vertical. The
reason why Subhiksha is able to provide medicines at such less rates is because of various
other reasons. One of the reasons is that Subhiksha has a very low stock level of about 1
month of medicines, as compared to about 2-3 months of stock level by other competitors.
Thus it is because of the high Inventory turnover that Subhiksha is able to supply medicines
at a cheaper price. The procurement is done directly from the wholesaler markets in
respective cities/states.
One other reason is that Subhiksha in its stores do not keep the large variety of all the
medicines, it only keeps chronic medicines- which the consumers will buy regularly and for a
long time. this also helps Subhikhsa in maintaining low inventory level.
Role of I.T in Telecom:
Subhiksha maintains a very low stock level due to which their investment levels are very low
and hence they are able to pass on big discounts & offer mobile phones at the cheapest price.
Again here IT does not play any major role in the procurement of the mobile phones.

FUTURE GROWTH PLANS OF SUBHIKSHA

Subhiksha has already established a strong private label brand for Staple products and is
enjoying economies of scale in that because of its wide presence in the country. This
supplements its cost saving model for consumers and is also bringing in a higher profit
margin to it. Following this strategy Subhiksha is also planning to enter into creating a
portfolio of private label products including Baby foods, Edible oils, etc.

As of today the Local Mom and Pop stores has a reach and presence that, at least for now is
unmatched by most organized retailers But, however these Kirana stores will find it a lot
difficult to compete on price with organized retailers, although they would continue to play a
complementary role and leverage their presence to meet specific consumer requirements.
References:

1. Subhiksha ties up with vJive Networks, The Economic Times, 20 Mar, 2007
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News/News_By_Industry/Services/Retailing/Subhiksha_
ties_up_with_vJive_Networks/articleshow/1785276.cms

2. Subhiksha, India's largest retail chain

Source: http://www.rediff.com/money/2007/feb/05bspec.htm

3.http://www.chennaibest.com/cityresources/Home_Needs/profiles02.asp

4. Subhiksha to increase retail outlets, The Hindu

Source: http://www.hindu.com/2006/07/15/stories/2006071517851900.htm

5. Subhiksha growing at a scorching pace; to double network and revenue in six months;
betting big on mobile phones, India Retail Biz,
Source: http://indiaretailbiz.wordpress.com/2006/11/15/subhiksha-doubling-revenue-and-
network-in-six-months-betting-big-on-mobile-phones/

6. Subhiksha Website,
Source: www.subhiksha.in

7. Subhiksha to open 100 stores in Mumbai in one month; announces 1,000 stores within
one year. India Retail Biz, December 13, 2006
Source:http://indiaretailbiz.wordpress.com/2006/12/13/subhiksha-to-open-100-stores-in-
mumbai-plans-1000-in-india-within-one-year/

8. Success story of Subhiksha, India's largest retail chain, February 05, 2007
http://www.rediff.com/money/2007/feb/05bspec.htm

9. Subhiksha to enter into online Stores, The Economic Times

Source:http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/2456436.cms
10.Subhiksha to create private label portfolio, The Economic Times 15 Nov, 2006,
Source: http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/447925.cms

11.Making of Largest Retail chain in India : Subhiksha.- Dec 12

Source: www.startupavenues.com/news/2007/02/08/making-of-largest-retail-chain-
in-india-subhiksha/

12.Subhiksha aims 1000 retails stores

Source: in.news.yahoo.com/061212/43/6a8e0.html -

13.After grocery, Subhiksha eyes mobile phone market Business Daily from THE HINDU
group of publications Thursday, Jul 26, 2007
http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2007/07/26/stories/2007072651350500.htm

14. IMAGES India Retail Report 2007

Source: www.imagesretail.com/india_retail_report.htm

15. Subhiksha draws up cluster-bombing plan, The Economic Times,6 Dec, 2006,
Source: http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News/News_By_Company/Companies_A
Z/S_Companies_/Subhiksha/Subhiksha_draws_up_clusterbombing_plan/articleshow/726435.
cms

16. Subhiksha: The common man's retailer, The Economic Times. 2 Oct, 2007, 0005 hrs
Source:http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/Interview/R_Subramanian_MD_Subhiksha_Tra
ding_Services/articleshow/2420996.cms

17. Subhiksha addressing the needs of masses, not the elite, The Economic Times,20 Jun,
2007
Source: http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/2135104.cms

18. Subhiksha tides over stock issues, logs better sales. The Economic Times,10 May, 2007,
Source:http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News/News_By_Industry/Services/Retailing/Sub
hiksha_tides_over_stock_issues_logs_better_sales/articleshow/2024239.cms