Reliance Retail enters jewellery market

BANGALORE: Mukesh Ambani-promoted Reliance Retail Thursday announced its foray into jewellery retail. The firm plans to open 300 jewellery stores across India in the next three years.

"We plan to open 300 exclusive jewellery specialty stores, some of which will be owned by the company while others would be franchised," Bijou Kurien, president and chief executive (lifestyle) of the company said at a press conference here.

The company opened its first jewellery specialty store here at an investment of about Rs.120 million. The store is spread over 6,000 sq ft and showcases over 10,000 designs.

"After Bangalore, we have plans to open our next store in Hyderabad and Ludhiana. Depending on the performance of these three stores, we would think of leveraging the investment," Kurien said, adding it is aiming at achieving a robust market share by next fiscal.

Reliance Retail is a wholly owned subsidiary of $27.23-billion Reliance Industries Ltd. It will invest Rs.250 billion by 2010-11. 

The company started opening its stores in November last year. It currently operates 390 stores in over 16 cities.

Reliance Retail have already opened grocery, consumer durables, apparel and footwear stores.