News: Reliance in space chase

(TT 05/08/2006) Mumbai - Mukesh Ambani’s venture into organised retailing is now witnessing real traction. Ahead of the first retail store that would be opened sometime within the next two months, the senior Ambani is now concentrating on acquiring real estate at a scale, perhaps never witnessed by the domestic retail industry.

He is now looking to spread Reliance Retail over 15 million sq ft at over 1,500 locations in the country. Having mastered the art of building gigantic projects at a rapid pace, he is also ready with the tools necessary to set up a format once the land acquisition is completed. But more than that, Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) has received an enormous response throughout the country to its search for retail space.

Sources said its proposal to seek retail space in cities/towns across the country between 3,000 square feet and 30,000 square feet either on lease or outright sale has met with a fantastic response on the very first day. Reliance intends to make announcements in 76 cities seeking retail space over the next four days.

The response has come despite Reliance stipulating that the property must be located on the ground floor, preferably in a single floor and should have a good frontage and convenient location within the city/town. While Reliance had asked interested parties to log on to its website, sources said it has received more than 10,000 applications from around the country on the very first day.

“Most of them were proposals for land between 3,000 and 30,000 sq ft. However, the company also got a good number of proposals for retail space above 30,000 square feet,” the sources said. They added that one of the reasons that triggered such a response was the confidence that people have in the RIL group. “It is a straight deal between the land owners and the company. There are no middlemen in between. This is a major positive,” they added.