Discount retailer Subhiksha to open 300, 600-stores on national scale

Mumbai: In a move that is expected to hugely impact the dynamics of the Indian retail market, the Tamil Nadu-based Subhiksha Trading Services, India's largest discount retail chain has announced a Rs300-crore investment to support its huge rollout plans on a national scale.

The company will soon begin operations in Delhi, Maharashtra & Gujarat in the West and Andhra Pradesh & Karnataka in the South. By end 2007, Subhiksha plans to operate over 600 stores across India.

The company's first entry into markets outside Tamil Nadu and will kick off in the Delhi NCR region with an investment of Rs100 crore in this market alone. This will coincide with the launch of a new business vertical for telecom products, adding to its current product range of groceries, fruits and vegetables and FMCG.

Subhiksha's business model is focused on ensuring that the customers can procure daily needs near the home at reduced prices. The company is therefore targeting a 'neighbourhood presence' in the Delhi / NCR where it will open a whopping 145 stores over the next one year. The Delhi phase is expected to kickoff launch in August 2006.

Speaking on the subject, R Subramanian, MD, Subhiksha said, "Our expansion is timed at a stage when the Indian retail industry is seeing a huge upswing, with an exponential rise in retail investment. With our backward linkages and supply chain arrangements carefully crafted to the highly competitive Indian market, we feel consumers will benefit hugely from the constant every day low prices we will offer, along with the convenience of neighborhood shopping that they are used to and that is core to our own business model."

According to the company its consumer-focused no-frills approach to the business of daily shopping allows huge savings on overhead investments as well as running expenses, while its unique direct supply arrangements with manufactures further reduces supply-chain costs. The resulting benefits as well as the ones accrued by economies of scale are passed on to the consumer, keeping prices of all products sharply lower than the market, consistently, with simultaneous assurance of quality control.

"Our concept begins with customer focus and ends at customer satisfaction. Subhiksha has mastered a simple strategy that allows us to provide the best bargains just next door! A Subhiksha outlet in every neighborhood will soon become a one-stop-stop for all India's daily needs.' added Atul Joshi, senior president, Subhiksha.