Bharti Retail to up number of outlets to 200

Bharti Retail said on Friday it will expand the number of its retail stores to 200 from 70 at present by end 2010.

Bharti Enterprises vice chairman and managing director Rajan Mittal said most of these will be Easyday stores.

Talking on the sidelines of national executive meeting organised by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry on Friday, Mittal, however, refrained from commenting on investment numbers till December 2011 when it completes three years of operations with a turnover of Rs 1,000 crore (Rs 10 billion).

"We will also enter another zone for retail operations between southern and western India, by the end of December or early January," he said.

The company has a tie-up with US retail major Wal Mart operating in both wholesale cash-and-carry format and Easyday retail format and currently operates only in the northern part of the country.

"We will now expand in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and the NCR," Mittal said. He said the investment for expansion will be met through internal resources.

The company had earlier planned to pump in $2 billion by 2017 with 10 million sq ft space.

At present, with 70 stores the company operates with 0.5 million sq ft. Mittal said the company was selling Wal Mart labels like George and Great Value.

All private labels constitute 16 per cent of the total products and the company was aiming to increase it in the future.