Reliance Retail likely to have ended FY23 with 18,000 stores

Reliance Retail Ventures is likely to have ended FY23 with a retail network of around 18,000 stores, up over 18 per cent y-o-y, sources said.

In FY22, the company had spent about ₹30,000 crore on expanding its retail network and indications are that in FY23, too, it would have spent a similar amount. The company did not respond to an email seeking clarification on the information.

Reliance Retail Ventures is expanding its retail footprint of physical stores at a blistering pace of 2,500-3,000 stores annually as it seeks to mark presence on a pan-India level. In the first nine months of the fiscal, the company added 18 million sq ft of retail space compared to 7 msf added annually during FY20 to FY22, an indication of the escalation in the momentum. At the end of December 2022, it had 60 msf of retail space.

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Last year, it added stores belonging to the Future Group too, by taking over the leases of the stores for which the bankrupt group was unable to pay rent. According to analysts, about one-third of the floorspace addition came from the Future Group. The store expansion is happening across all formats, industry sources said. According to industry estimates, Reliance Retail’s space footprint is over 4 times that of DMart, its nearest competitor.

Reliance Industries is set to announce its Q4 and FY23 results on Friday and the consolidated numbers will also include that of Reliance Retail. Reliance Retail Ventures had reported a consolidated turnover of ₹199,704 crore and net profit of ₹7,055 crore in FY22.