Reliance Retail splurges Rs 1000 cr on real estate

Putting its mega retail plans on full throttle, Mukesh Ambani-promoted Reliance Retail has spent close to Rs 1,000 crore (Rs 10 billion) in two days acquiring commercial properties in the national capital.

According to sources, Reliance Retail acquired a property at Vikaspuri in West Delhi valued at around Rs 280 crore (Rs 2.8 billion) on Tuesday.

On Monday, it had acquired seven properties valued at around Rs 700 crore (Rs 7 billion). Of these, six were at Dwarka near the Indira Gandhi International Airport and one at Rohini in West Delhi.

"The overall space size of the acquisition is over five lakh square feet," the sources said, adding the company would be taking part in another bid tomorrow for two properties at Vasant Kunj in South Delhi.

These two properties at Vasant Kunj are together expected to be valued around Rs 25 crore (Rs 250 million), the sources added. Company officials declined to comment.

The property acquired by Reliance Retail were a part of auctions by the Delhi Development Authority, through which it had collected about Rs 900 crore (Rs 9 billion) against a reserve price of about Rs 400 crore (Rs 4 billion).

On Monday, DDA had auctioned 16 commercial plots totalling around 40,000 square metre.

Mukesh Ambani had last year unveiled mega plans for expansion in the retail space entailing an investment of Rs 25,000 crore (Rs 250 billion) in the next few years.