Easy Day to expand

Easy Day is on an expansion spree after restricting its presence to Punjab for almost three years.

The retail chain plans to double its number of stores this year i.e. to have 125 Easy Day supermarkets and 13 Easy Day Market hypermarts. It is the retail arm of Bharti Enterprises, which has a joint venture with the world’s largest retailer Wal-Mart in the cash-and-carry wholesale segment.

Right now there are 60 Easy Day stores across Punjab, Rajasthan, Haryana, Delhi and Uttar Pradesh and six Easy Day Market stores across Punjab, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh. In another five years, Bharti Retail plans to be present in every city in the country with a population of more than one million. It will invest up to $2.5 billion to add about 10 million sq. ft. of retail space in the country by then. Also, the equal joint venture between Bharti and Wal-Mart plans to open up to 15 cash-and-carry stores and employ about 7,000 people over the next three years. Organized retail, estimated at $30 million, accounts for less than 10 per cent of India’s $375 billion retail market, but is growing at an impressive 13 to 14 per cent a year. There’s a view that allowing foreign investment in multi-brand retail will be good for India and for the development of a robust supply chain.