Reliance Retail

Reliance Retail is an Indian retail company and a subsidiary of Reliance Industries. Founded in 2006, it is the largest retailer in India in terms of revenue.[3] Its retail outlets offer foods, groceries, apparel, footwear, toys, home improvement products, electronic goods, and farm implements and inputs. it has over 245,000 employees at 18,000 store locations in 7,000 towns.[4]

History

Reliance Retail was established in 2006 as a wholly owned subsidiary of Reliance Industries, with chairman Mukesh Ambani announcing an investment of up to inr 250000000000 for the new venture at Reliance's 32nd annual general meeting in June 2006.[5]

The first set of convenience stores under the name Reliance Fresh were inaugurated in Hyderabad in November 2006.[6] This was followed by entry into consumer electronics via Reliance Digital,[7] hypermarkets under Reliance Mart,[8] apparel with Reliance Trends,[9] jewellery via Reliance Jewels,[10] and footwear through Reliance Footprint, all in 2007.[11]

In 2008, Marks & Spencer established a 51:49 joint venture with Reliance Retail to open a chain of Marks & Spencer stores in India.[12] In 2011, Reliance Retail started its wholesale cash and carry chain called Reliance Market.[13]

In 2013, the company stopped retailing non-vegetarian food items and shut down its 100-plus Reliance Delight meat and seafood stores, owing to opposition from shareholders, customers and animal rights activists.[14][15] By 2014, it also closed its book and music stores called Reliance TimeOut, and furniture retailer, Reliance Living, in order to focus on value retailing and e-commerce.[16]

In 2016, Reliance Retail rebranded its hypermarket and mini-hypermarket formats–Reliance Mart and Reliance Super–under the name Reliance Smart.[17] In April 2016, it launched its online fashion retail platform called AJIO.[18]

Reliance Retail largely grew organically until 2019, when it acquired the multinational toy retailer Hamleys.[19] In December 2019, the company soft-launched its online grocery service JioMart, followed by a wide launch in May 2020 amidst the COVID-19 lockdown.[20]

In August 2020, Reliance Retail announced its acquisition of Future Group's retail, wholesale, logistics and warehousing business for inr 247130000000.[21] However, the deal was called off in April 2022 after a prolonged legal dispute between Future Group and Amazon.[22] Later, Reliance Retail took over more than 200 of Future Group's Big Bazaar, Central and Brand Factory outlets due to Future Group's non-payment of lease,[23] and reopened them as Smart Bazaar, Centro and Fashion Factory respectively.[24]

In October 2021, the company partnered with 7-Eleven to franchise the latter's stores in India, opening India's first 7-Eleven in Mumbai.[25] In July 2022, Reliance Retail entered a similar franchising agreement with Gap to bring Gap to India.[26]

In January 2022, Reliance Retail invested $200 million in Dunzo for a 25.8% stake.[27]

In 2022, soft drink brand Campa Cola was acquired by Reliance Industries for ₹22 crores. In March 2023, Reliance Consumer Products (RCPL), the fast-moving consumer goods arm and subsidiary of Reliance Retail Ventures (RRVL), announced the relaunch of Campa Cola in three flavours at select stores.[28]

In May 2024, Jio Leasing Services Ltd (JLSL), a subsidiary of Jio Financial Services, announced that it would lease customer premises equipment, devices and telecom equipment worth $4.32 billion from Reliance Retail.[29]

In February 2025, Reliance Retail re-launched Shein in India, nearly five years after the app was banned by the Indian government due to privacy concerns.[30] This followed a 2023 partnership between Reliance Retail and Shein to source products locally from India.[31]

Subsidiaries and divisions

There are over 45 subsidiaries and divisions of Reliance Retail.[32]

Products and services

Funding

In September 2020, American investment firm Silver Lake bought a 1.75% stake in Reliance Retail for ₹7,500 crore[66] and KKR acquired a 1.28% stake for ₹5,500 crore valuing the company at $58 billion.[67]

In October 2020, Singapore's sovereign wealth fund GIC bought a 1.22% stake for $752 million, while TPG acquired a 0.41% stake for $250 million, giving Reliance Retail a pre-money valuation of $58.5 billion.[68]

In August 2023, the Qatar Investment Authority invested $1 billion in Reliance Retail for a 0.99% stake in the company at a $100 billion valuation.[69] In October 2023, the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority acquired a 0.59% stake in the company with an investment of nearly $600 million.[70]