Ruias-controlled Essar Steel today said it with expand its retail chain, Hypermart, taking the tally to 150 within a year in India, and look for opportunities in the SAARC region to open outlets.
"We are increasing the number of Hypermarts to 150 within a year from 84 now within the country, and believing that there is a scope, we are looking for opportunities in the SAARC region," Girish Rao, chief executive officer, Hypermart, told PTI here.
Essar Hypermart, a one-stop shop for a wide range of flat steel products including, hot rolled, cold rolled and galvanised steel sheets and TMT Bars, caters to the need of the small and medium-scale enterprises.
Rao said Essar Steel has 28 hypermarts in the West, 16 in the North, 19 in South, four in East and 17 in the Central region.
"Of the additional 66, the East will have 10-12 hypermarts," he said, adding others would be rolled out depending upon the requirement of a particular region.
Essar Steel sells 25% of its total production of 4.6 million tonnes per annum from the Hazira plant (in Gujarat) in the domestic market through retail chains.
Rao, however, said the percentage of sales through retail chains might not go up even after the opening up of the additional outlets. Essar Steel's capcity at Hazira was going up to 10 million tonnes per annum within the next one year.
On exapnsion in the SAARC region, Rao said the company is scouting for opportunities in Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Nepal, to start with.
Essar Steel operates two hypermarts in Indonesia.
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