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Reliance Retail
Indian retail company From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Reliance Retail is an Indian retail company and a subsidiary of Reliance Industries. Founded in 2006, it is the largest retailer in India in terms of revenue.[4] Its retail outlets offer foods, groceries, apparel, footwear, toys, home improvement products, electronic goods, and farm implements and inputs. As of 2023,[update] it has over 245,000 employees at 18,000 store locations in 7,000 towns.[1]
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History
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Reliance Retail was established in 2006 as a wholly owned subsidiary of Reliance Industries, with chairman Mukesh Ambani announcing an investment of up to ₹25,000 crore (US$5.52 billion) for the new venture at Reliance's 32nd annual general meeting in June 2006.[5]
The first set of convenience stores under the name Reliance Fresh were inaugurated in Hyderabad in November 2006.[6] This was followed by entry into consumer electronics via Reliance Digital,[7] hypermarkets under Reliance Mart,[8] apparel with Reliance Trends,[9] jewellery via Reliance Jewels,[10] and footwear through Reliance Footprint, all in 2007.[11]
In 2008, Marks & Spencer established a 51:49 joint venture with Reliance Retail to open a chain of Marks & Spencer stores in India.[12] In 2011, Reliance Retail started its wholesale cash and carry chain called Reliance Market.[13]
In 2013, the company stopped retailing non-vegetarian food items and shut down its 100-plus Reliance Delight meat and seafood stores, owing to opposition from shareholders, customers and animal rights activists.[14][15] By 2014, it also closed its book and music stores called Reliance TimeOut, and furniture retailer, Reliance Living, in order to focus on value retailing and e-commerce.[16]
In 2016, Reliance Retail rebranded its hypermarket and mini-hypermarket formats–Reliance Mart and Reliance Super–under the name Reliance Smart.[17] In April 2016, it launched its online fashion retail platform called AJIO.[18]
Reliance Retail largely grew organically until 2019, when it acquired the multinational toy retailer Hamleys.[19] In December 2019, the company soft-launched its online grocery service JioMart, followed by a wide launch in May 2020 amidst the COVID-19 lockdown.[20]
In August 2020, Reliance Retail announced its acquisition of Future Group's retail, wholesale, logistics and warehousing business for ₹24,713 crore (US$3.34 billion).[21] However, the deal was called off in April 2022 after a prolonged legal dispute between Future Group and Amazon.[22] Later, Reliance Retail took over more than 200 of Future Group's Big Bazaar, Central and Brand Factory outlets due to Future Group's non-payment of lease,[23] and reopened them as Smart Bazaar, Centro and Fashion Factory respectively.[24]
In October 2021, the company partnered with 7-Eleven to franchise the latter's stores in India, opening India's first 7-Eleven in Mumbai.[25] In July 2022, Reliance Retail entered a similar franchising agreement with Gap to bring Gap to India.[26]
In January 2022, Reliance Retail invested $200 million in Dunzo for a 25.8% stake.[27]
In 2022, soft drink brand Campa Cola was acquired by Reliance Industries for ₹22 crores. In March 2023, Reliance Consumer Products (RCPL), the fast-moving consumer goods arm and subsidiary of Reliance Retail Ventures (RRVL), announced the relaunch of Campa Cola in three flavours at select stores.[28]
In May 2024, Jio Leasing Services Ltd (JLSL), a subsidiary of Jio Financial Services, announced that it would lease customer premises equipment, devices and telecom equipment worth $4.32 billion from Reliance Retail.[29]
In February 2025, Reliance Retail re-launched Shein in India, nearly five years after the app was banned by the Indian government due to privacy concerns.[30] This followed a 2023 partnership between Reliance Retail and Shein to source products locally from India.[31]
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Subsidiaries and divisions
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A Reliance Trends Woman store in Kollam.
There are over 45 subsidiaries and divisions of Reliance Retail.[32]
Major divisions
Acquisitions
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Products and services
Private label products
Although Reliance Retail's grocery businesses primarily markets products of third party FMCG players, they also sell inhouse brands including: Best Farms, Good Life, Enzo, Mopz, Expelz and Home One.[61][62][63]
Fashion labels
Reliance Brands, a wholly owned subsidiary of Reliance Retail, holds stakes in fashion labels such as Satya Paul (72%),[64] Manish Malhotra (40%),[41] and Ritu Kumar (52%).[65]
Funding
In September 2020, American investment firm Silver Lake bought a 1.75% stake in Reliance Retail for ₹7,500 crore[66] and KKR acquired a 1.28% stake for ₹5,500 crore valuing the company at $58 billion.[67]
In October 2020, Singapore's sovereign wealth fund GIC bought a 1.22% stake for $752 million, while TPG acquired a 0.41% stake for $250 million, giving Reliance Retail a pre-money valuation of $58.5 billion.[68]
In August 2023, the Qatar Investment Authority invested $1 billion in Reliance Retail for a 0.99% stake in the company at a $100 billion valuation.[69] In October 2023, the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority acquired a 0.59% stake in the company with an investment of nearly $600 million.[70]
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References
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