ABRL aims at becoming 2.5-bn entity

The growth will be driven by opening new stores,launching private labels and closing unviable stores,among other initiatives,8221; Aditya Birla Retail8217;s CEO,Thomas Varghese,said.

8220;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,8221; he said.

8220;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,8221; Varghese said.

8220;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,8221; he said.