Aditya Birla Retail appoints Mohit Kampani as CEO

KOLKATA: Mohit Kampani, the former managing director of Spencer’s Retail, is joining Aditya Birla Retail (ABRL), the operator of the More chain of supermarkets and hypermarkets, as chief executive officer.

Kampani is set to take charge of food and grocery retail business of the $41 billion conglomerate from October 3. He will report to the group’s director for retail and apparel business, Pranab Barua, according to an internal email.

Kampani’s predecessor, Vishak Kumar, is becoming CEO for Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail, the entity that emerged after consolidation of branded apparel businesses of the Aditya Birla Group comprising of Madura Fashion, Pantaloons Fashion & Retail and Madura Fashion & Lifestyle.

The changes were announced internally in an email to employees on Wednesday. An email sent to Aditya Birla Group seeking comment did not elicit a response until Wednesday press time. Kampani declined to comment.

Kampani’s first major goal will be to turn More profitable and organise the business amid increased competition from ecommerce companies. ABRL reported revenue of Rs 2,948 crore in 2014-15, a net loss of Rs 571 crore and total debt of Rs 5,232 crore. It is reducing losses at the store level.

ABRL is the fourth-largest supermarket chain in the country, after Future Group, Reliance Retail and D’Mart, operating about 700 stores covering about 2 million square feet of retail space.