News: Pantaloon to benefit from contract farms

(BS 25/11/2006) Mumbai - Pantaloon Retail (India), part of the Future group, is planning to make its presence felt in contract farming in the country. Kishore Biyani, managing director of Pantaloon Retail, said, “We have commissioned a pilot project for contract farming near Indore in Madhya Pradesh.”

Currently, the pilot contract farming project is spread across 5,000 acres of land and the company is targeting similar projects in other parts of the country.

“Initially, the company will enter Gujarat, Maharashtra and Punjab,” Biyani said. Under the contract farming, inputs will be supplied by the company to farmers and crops will be grown according to the needs of the company. “It is a good opportunity for the company and farmers,” added Biyani.

The company is also setting up a new retail chain, Home Town, a one-stop destination for housing requirements. The first outlet is likely to be opened next month in Bangalore. The company is also targeting Gujarat for its future endeavours.

Sadashiv Nayak, head of operations (west zone), Pantaloon Retail, said: “We will open our first Home Town store in Gujarat by the end of March 2007.” He further said store would provide all the solutions related to house construction or renovation.

“Our first store will come up in Ahmedabad in the Thaltej area. The company has acquired 70,000 -80,000 sq feet of space for its Home Store,” he added.

Elaborating further, he said the purpose was to provide wide range of choices to the customers under one roof.

Recently, the ICICI Venture Funds Management and Kotak SEAF India Fund have together invested over Rs 120 crore in Home Solutions Retail. ICICI Venture picked up to 15 per cent stake in Home Solutions, while Kotak SEAF held 6 per cent stake in the company.

The Pantaloon promoters have also invested in Home Solutions through warrants. Followed by Home Town, the company is planning to enter the beauty parlours and health clinic segments in malls shortly.

Other ideas in the pipeline include entering the hospitality business.