Subhiksha to foray into durables; denies reports of stake sale

NEW DELHI: Supermarket chain Subhiksha Retail is foraying into consumer durables retail segment, with plans to invest Rs 600 crore for opening 150 stores by June 2009. The company, however, denied reports of any plan by its promoters to exit the business or go for dilution of stake. "We are planning to diversify our business and enter the consumer durables retail market. Our plan is to set up 150 specialised consumer durables stores across the country with an investment of Rs 600 crore by June 2009," Subhiksha Trading Services Managing Director R Subramanian told PTI.

He said the consumer durables stores would have a total space of 20 lakh square feet and would be located across 65 cities, including metros and Tier I and II cities. "These stores would also come up under the existing brand name of Subhiksha," he added. The company has presently 1,580 supermarket stores under the Subhiksha Retail brand, in more than 100 cities. "We are also increasing the number of our general supermarkets to 2,200 by end of the current fiscal. The company would be investing around Rs 400 crore on the additional 620 odd supermarkets," Subramanian said.

He said the new consumer durables stores would source products from top global brands in various segments including televisions, air-conditioners, computers, fridges and so on. He, however, refused to disclose the targeted turnover from the consumer durables segment. The company has also refuted reports of the promoters purported plans to exit from the business.