10-07-2021, 07:05 PM
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MUMBAI – Asia’s richest man Mukesh Ambani is set to open India’s first 7-Eleven convenience store, as his Reliance conglomerate boosts its retail presence in the vast market of 1.3 billion people.
Today’s announcement of a franchise agreement comes two days after India’s second-largest supermarket chain Future Retail terminated its 2019 deal with 7-Eleven to open 1,000 stores.
India’s retail sector is dominated by family-owned “mom-and-pop” outlets, but oil-to-telecoms conglomerate Reliance Industries added 1,500 new stores last year to make a total of nearly 13,000.
“7-Eleven is among the most iconic global brands in the convenience retail landscape...(and) will offer Indian customers greater convenience and choices within their own neighbourhoods,” said Isha Ambani, director of Reliance Retail Ventures and Mukesh’s daughter.
The first store will open on Saturday in a Mumbai suburb, followed by a “rapid roll-out in key neighbourhoods and commercial areas, across the Greater Mumbai cluster to start with”, Reliance said.
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