Sahara launches direct selling venture, targets Rs20,000-cr revenues in 18 months

Sahara India plans to sell hundreds of self-branded items ranging from talcum powder to toilet cleaners as it forays into the retail. The company, which has been in the thick of several controversies as it expanded from its base in Lucknow to major Indian cities and overseas, said it would use a direct selling model for the venture, targeting revenues of Rs20,000 crore in 18 months.

Quoted Roy after the launch of the venture yesterday, The Economic Times said it would be a bigger business than its real estate business and would be among its top three businesses in the years to come.

The venture dubbed `Sahara Q Shop' would be launched on 15 August, Independence Day in 60 towns across UP, Uttarakhand, Bihar, Rajasthan and Jharkhand, with plans to reach 1,000 cities by March. Consumers will need to become members of the direct selling business to buy products.

The venture will be driven mostly through its network of 1 million financial products sellers with its employees selling the company's private branded items as also other products.

According to Roy, the company's 1 million workers regularly visited 6.5 crore depositors and it would be easy for them to enter those houses and sell its other products.

The first 18 months would see Sahara enroll 1 crore consumers as members. The venture was targeting Rs15,000-20,000 crore revenues, which the company expects to go up to Rs45,000 crore over the next two-three years.