Reliance Retail crosses Rs 10,000-crore sales mark

MUMBAI: Reliance Industries’ retail business crossed the Rs 10,000-crore sales mark for the first time last fiscal when it opened more than 180 outlets despite a slowdown in consumer demand growth that forced some rivals to curtail expansion and shut stores.

Reliance Retail, which operates about 1,450 stores across multiple formats in 129 cities, reported a 42% jump in its revenues from operations at Rs 10,800 crore for the year ended March 2013. It reported a profit before depreciation, interest cost and tax expenses (PBDIT) of Rs 78 crore.

"We are delighted to see our retail business achieving a milestone of annual revenue crossing Rs 10,000 crore and will further strengthen our position in this sector,” Mukesh Ambani, chairman and managing director at Reliance Industries, said on Tuesday.

Reliance Retail reported same store sales growth in the range of 7-18% across the format last year.

It operates a line of specialty stores across different format such as apparel (Trends), books (Timeout), consumer durables (Digital) , footwear (Footprints) and jewelry (Jewels). Its other retail chains include joint ventures with Marks & Spencer, Vision Express and Hamleys. RIL targets revenues of Rs 40,000-50,000 crore from retail business over the next three years.