Top retailers raise Rs 4,000 crore as store expansion hits four-year high

Kolkata: India’s largest retailers are accelerating offline store launches to a four-year high, with several companies tapping debt and equity markets to fund the expansion.

Amazon and Samara Capital-backed More Retail, Tata Group-owned Trent and DMart operator Avenue Supermarts have together raised or announced plans to raise more than ₹4,000 crore in this financial year for the expansion, sharply increasing growth investments year-on-year.

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Reliance Retail, which increased its non-current bank borrowings to ₹22,521 crore in 2025-26 from ₹14,809 crore a year earlier, last week said it would continue investing in its omni-channel infrastructure, particularly dark stores, over the next nine to 10 months while also expanding its physical store network in smaller towns. The company operates more than 700 dark stores.

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“We are focusing on expanding the network and going deeper into the markets, so investment will continue,” said Reliance Retail chief financial officer Dinesh Taluja.

The country’s 10 largest listed retailers — including Reliance Retail, DMart, Trent, Titan Company, Jubilant FoodWorks and V-Mart Retail — added a net 2,182 stores in 2025-26 after accounting for closures, up 25% from 1,745 stores in the preceding fiscal, according to an ET analysis. Most retailers stepped up expansion in 2025-26 after closing several unviable outlets in the preceding two fiscals. They had added 1,865 stores in 2023-24. This year’s expansion is expected to be the fastest since the Covid-19-induced acceleration seen in 2021-22 and 2022-23 owing to pent-up demand, according to industry executives.

More Retail said in a recent Registrar of Companies filing, sourced through business intelligence platform Tofler, that it is investing heavily in its omnichannel business, which requires significant capital to support growth and fund negative cash flows.

The company raised more than Rs 500 crore through the private placement of non-convertible debentures with The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation in two tranches, as per the filing.

Earlier this month, Avenue Supermarts approved the issuance of non-convertible debentures worth up to Rs 1,000 crore in one or more tranches through private placement.

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Trent, meanwhile, secured shareholder approval last quarter to raise up to Rs 2,500 crore to “accelerate select investments”, including store expansion, upgrades of existing outlets, faster rollout of Star stores and selective investments in retail real estate. Arvind Fashions told investors that it plans to add 150,000 sq ft of net retail space in 2026-27, up from 140,000 sq ft added last fiscal.