Aditya Birla eyes investment in its retail chain More

Despite acquiring majority stake in Pantaloon, Aditya Birla

has failed to attract any investment into its retail businesses - Aditya Birla Retail (ABRL), which runs supermarket and hypermarket chain ‘More’ and Madura Fashion and Lifestyle. The company is scouting for foreign investments in its retail business for quite some time now.

Though the government has allowed up to 51 percent FDI in multi-brand retail, none of the global major has made a formal entry so far owing to dilemma over FDI policy framework. Though, the Centre has taken major steps towards diluting the mandatory norms to attract foreign investors, domestic players like Future Group, Aditya Birla Retail are still waiting to get an investor to invest in their operations.

The loss making supermarket business under the Birla group is in urgent need of funds. The chain has steeped in losses of Rs 510 crores, and underwent consolidation last year. The company closed many unprofitable ‘More’ stores last year and exited markets such as Mumbai completely.