Reliance Retail to expand south India ops

Reliance Retail Ltd is all set to expand its operations in South India with the opening of 11 `Reliance Fresh' pilot stores at one go across Bangalore tomorrow.

Company executives said more stores would be opened in the city in the near future.

The company's President & Chief Executive - Foods business, Gunender Kapur and Chief Executive - Customer Operations, Sunil K Chandran said it's looking at opening `Reliance Fresh' stores in the cities of Mysore, Hubli-Dharwad, Belgaum and Mangalore in Karnataka in the second phase later this year.

"We are rolling out to all parts of the country as back-end infrastructure comes up," Kapur told reporters here. "We are planning to be in all urban parts of the country".

The stores carry fresh fruits and vegetables, staples, grocery, dairy products and also offer `Reliance Select', the Reliance brand of products, officials said.

Within four months of launching Reliance Fresh stores, the total square footage of the 80 Reliance Fresh stores across India is approximately 190,000 sq ft, officials said.