Mumbai: Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries Limited’s (RIL) retail arm, Reliance Retail, plans to enter into the cash-and-carry business by opening at least three outlets in the next 6-8 months, reports said on Wednesday.

When contacted by FE, Reliance Retail president Bijou Kurien declined to comment but did not deny the news.

In early 2009, the company had jettisoned plans to enter into the wholesale trading business. The company is back with a bang. It is soon going to announce its revived cash-and-carry business plans and will open three outlets over the next six to eight months, the source said without divulging further details.

As per the existing plans, Reliance will not enter into any foreign joint venture, the source said. The company has already identified locations and work was on for the construction of the outlets, which are spread over an area of 1.5 lakh square feet each. This is, however, a scaling down of the company’s initial plan to open its stores at 15 locations, mostly tier-II centres such as Jalandhar, Ludhiana, Rajkot and Salem.

Reliance’s entry into the wholesale business assumes significance at this point, as the market is abuzz with reports of global retailers such as Wal-Mart, Tesco, Metro and Carrefour expanding their presence in India amid anticipation that the government is likely to ease FDI norms in both the wholesale and retail formats.

Early this year, Reliance hired Tesco Lotus chief marketing officer and director Gwyn Sundhagul at Thailand, to head its value format stores and spearhead its wholesale plans.

RIL’s value format stores sell goods such as soaps, biscuits and vegetables and contribute 70% to the total sales of Reliance Retail.

At the group’s last annual general meeting, chairman Mukesh Ambani had told shareholders that the company is targeting a Rs 10,000 crore revenue from Reliance Retail in four years’ time. Reliance Retail’s current revenue is pegged at Rs 4,000 crore and expects a 25-30% growth in its top-line. However, the bottomline would be lower, as the generic format stores such as Reliance Fresh and Delight are yet to become ebitda positive.