Essar Group to invest up to Rs 1,350 crore in telecom retail
By Our Corporate Bureau | 15 Mar 2007
New Delhi: The Essar Group, which holds a minority 33 per cent stake in Hutch-Essar says that it will invest between $250 and $300 million (Rs 1,100 and Rs 1,350 crore) over the next three years to set up 2,500 MobileStore outlets.
The MobileStores venture is the Essar Group's retail initiative in the telecom sector under Essar Telecom Retail. The multi-service outlets, MobileStores will offer handsets, mobile accessories, new connections, value added services, after sales support and bill payment facilities.
Rajiv Agarwal, CEO, Essar Telecom Retail, told reporters that it had targeted a 15 per cent market share of the country's Rs 35,000 crore mobile market, growing at an annual rate of 60 per cent.
The company currently has 60 MobileStores across India, including 21 in Delhi. "We are also looking at opening up of 4,000 touch points in the form of stores, kiosks and shop-in-shops," Agarwal added.
The stores will be set up in three formats - large, medium and compact, besides shop-in-shops in malls and large retail outlets, he said, adding that the outlets will also offer electronic products such as digital cameras, ipods and other gaming devices.
