Reliance Fresh is the convenience store format which forms part of the retail business of Reliance Industries

Reliance Industries

Reliance Industries Limited is an Indian conglomerate company headquartered at Mumbai, India. The company operates through three business segments: petrochemicals, refining, and oil and gas, other segment of the company includes textile, retail business, special economic zone development and...

 of India

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

 which is headed by Mukesh Ambani

Mukesh Ambani

Mukesh Dhirubhai Ambani is an Indian business magnate. He is the chairman and managing director of Indian conglomerate Reliance Industries, the largest private sector enterprise in India listed in Fortune 500 magazine. His personal stake in Reliance Industries is 48%...

. Reliance plans to invest in excess of Rs 25000 crore

Crore

A crore is a unit in the Indian number system equal to ten million , or 100 lakhs. It is widely used in India, Bangladesh, Nepal, and Pakistan....

s in the next 4 years in their retail division. The company already has in excess of 560 reliance fresh outlets across the country. These stores sell fresh fruits and vegetables, staples, groceries, fresh juice, bars and dairy products.

A typical Reliance Fresh store is approximately 3000-4000 square feet and caters to a catchment area of 2–3 km.

History

After launch, in a dramatic shift in its positioning and mainly due to the circumstances prevailing in UP, West Bengal and Orissa, it was mentioned recently in news dailies that Reliance Retail is moving out of stocking fruits and vegetables. Reliance Retail has decided to minimise its exposure in the fruit and vegetable businbusiness.

The company may not stock fruit and vegetables in some states. Though Reliance Fresh is not exiting the fruit and vegetable business altogether, it has decided not to compete with local vendors partly due to political reasons, and partly due to its inability to create a robust supply chain. This is quite different from what the firm had originally planned.

When the first Reliance Fresh store opened in Hyderabad last October, not only did the company say the store’s main focus would be fresh produce like fruits and vegetables at a much lower price, but also spoke at length about its “farm-to-fork" theory. The idea the company spoke about was to source from farmers and sell directly to the consumer, removing middlemen out of the way.

Reliance Fresh, Reliance Mart, Reliance Digital, Reliance Trendz, Reliance Footprint, Reliance Wellness, Reliance Jewels, Reliance Timeout and Reliance Super are various formats that Reliance has rolled out.

In addition, Reliance Retail has entered into an alliance with Apple for setting up a chain of Apple Specialty Stores branded as iStore, starting with Bangalore.

Controversy

Recently their stores in Jharkand faced the ire of mobs of local vegetable vendors. They vandalised and attacked the stores claiming that they were stealing their livelihoods.

In August 2007, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati ordered to close 10 new stores keeping view of Law & order situation. In November 2007, Reliance Fresh stores are attacked by Bharatiya Janshakti Party

Bharatiya Janshakti Party

|The Bharatiya Janshakti Party was founded on 30 April 2006 in Ujjain in the state of Madhya Pradesh, India. It was founded by Uma Bharati, a former leader in the Bharatiya Janata Party ....

 supporters headed by Uma Bharti

Uma Bharti

Uma Ragini Bharti , is an Indian politician. She was born in Tikamgarh District, Madhya Pradesh to a religious Lodhi Rajput family and from a very young age, started holding discourses on Indian Epics.Her father was an atheist...

.

See also

• List of Indian companies
• Reliance footprints
• Reliance jewels
• Namdhari's Fresh
  Namdhari's Fresh
  Namdhari's Fresh is a grocery store chain, started in 2000 in the city of Bangalore. The chain was setup with the objective of filling the segment of premium green grocers. The company offers high quality fruits and vegetables for retail purchase...
  
  

External links

• Reliance Official Site
• Reliance Retail
• Podbharti
  Podbharti
  - About Podbharti :Podbharti provides coverage of News & Views about Indian Blogosphere, Indian language blogging, Tools & technology reviews, Indian Culture and the Entertainment Industry. It was co-founded by Indian blogger duo Debashish Chakrabarty and...
  
  's podcast reporting on the stone pelting incident at Reliance Fresh store at Ranchi
  Ranchi
  -Climate:Ranchi has a humid subtropical climate. However, due to its position and the forests around the city, it is known for its pleasant climate. Its climate is the primary reason why Ranchi was once the summer capital of the undivided State of Bihar...
  
  .