Aditya Birla Retail Limited (ABRL),the retail arm of the Aditya Birla Group,aims to be an USD 2.5-billion entity by 2017-18,a top company official said. "We aim to become an USD 2.5-billion entity by 2017-18. The growth will be driven by opening new stores,launching private labels and closing unviable stores,among other initiatives," Aditya Birla Retail's CEO,Thomas Varghese,said. "In the next one-two years,our focus will be on consolidation and getting us to profitability. Our focus will be on profitability of the existing network rather than to grow the network," he said. "We will be opening 12 hypermarket stores every year at an investment of nearly Rs 18-crore per store,spread across 55,000-75,000 sq ft. This year,our stores will come up in places like Delhi (May),Hyderabad (June),Surat,Pune and Nashik,among others," Varghese said. "Besides,we plan to open 70-100 supermarket stores every year at an investment of nearly Rs 50-60-lakh per store,spread across 2,500-2,800 sq ft pan-India," he said.
