Dabur India plans retail foray with 400 outlets

New Delhi: Dabur India is planning to foray into organised retail with a chain of 300-400 retail outlets, based on the health and beauty platform, across the country over the next few years.

Based on the model followed by foreign health and beauty retailers like Boots and Walgreens, the Dabur India retail outlets will sell pharmaceutical and OTC products as well as health food, confectionery, personal and baby care products and general merchandise. While Dabur is not tying up with a foreign partner, it is hiring a few foreign expatriates with wide experience in the retail business to guide the new venture.

Retail will be the Dabur group's third major venture after FMCG and pharmaceuticals, and could, over the medium-term, become as big as the FMCG business. It is expected that the company will roll out the first few stores by the end of the calendar year. The stores will be located inside malls and will be set up in the metros and tier-I cities.

Dabur is said to have set aside an investment of Rs 200 crore for its retail foray. The retail plans are expected to be taken up at Dabur's board meeting this week. When contacted, Dabur India group director PD Narang declined to comment.

The company currently operates standalone outlets across the country offering complete Ayurvedic solutions, called the Dabur Ayurvedic Centres.

The company plans to set up 1,000 HealthWorld stores in 400 cities in the next five years at an outlay of Rs 800 crore. These stores are meant as one-stop shops for a consumer's health needs with a 24/7 pharmacy which stocks FMCG products and health foods, ayurvedic and homeopathic medicines and also houses a diagnostic centre.