The Kishore Biyani-promoted Future Group, which runs India’s largest retail chain in both value and lifestyle formats, on Thursday said it plans to open 25-30 Big Bazaar outlets by June 2012, and will invest Rs 300-crore for the same.
“We are planning to add 25-30 stores on the Big Bazaar front. Our target for this year is 30 stores for Fashion at Big Bazaar and we already have 13 stores, so real estate provided we should be able to achieve our target,” Future Value Retail Joint CEO (East & South) Sadashiv Nayak told PTI.
The Future group currently owns 152 Big Bazaar stores in the country. “We will be investing Rs 300 crore for Big Bazaar and for the stand-alone (Fashion) it should be another Rs 70-80 crore,” he said on the sidelines of Amar Chitra Katha (ACK Media) scholarship event.
Meanwhile, Future Ideas Director Ashni Biyani said the group would be increasing its stake in ACK Media but did not specify the stake. “There is already a stake and we will be increasing it. We will be announcing it soon after SEBI formalities are completed,” she said.
Future Ventures has a 13.7 per cent stake in ACK Media and, according to media reports, is planning to increase it to 40 per cent. Biyani further said Big Bazaar would sell two-million copies of Amar Chitra Katha books by December. “We plan to sell two-million books through Big Bazaar outlets. I am sure we will achieve the target by December,” she said.
ACK Media said it will give Amar Chitra Katha Scholarships to children aged between 10-15, and the participation forms would be available at the Big Bazaar stores from July 14-August 7.
“The values that ACK talks about resonates very well with what Big Bazaar as a company, as a format, as a store, believes in. At Big Bazaar and the Future group, we have always looked at how to reach out to children, this is a part of that effort,” Biyani said.
The national winner will get a scholarship of Rs 11-lakh, 71 city winners would get a scholarship of Rs 25,000 each, 144 children from cities would get Rs 5,000 in cash, seven metro participants would get Rs 50,000-worth scholarship and 10 children participating through the SMS route would get a cash prize of Rs 15,000.
“It would be a stress-free test with multiple choice questions and a short essay question,” ACK Media CEO Samir Patil said, adding that the initiative would get a wider coverage through mobile phones and Big Bazaar than approaching the schools.
Big Bazaar witnesses three-million footfalls each week, Nayak said.
Source : Economic Times
