Today, the chairman of Vishal Retail is eagerly waiting his date with the Corporate Debt Restructuring cell of lenders in the third week of November.
The retailer is also planning to set up destination areas on major highways of India, which will be a combination of retail and entertainment.
Beleaguered discount chain Vishal Retail on Monday said it would sell its retail trading business to Chennai-based Shriram Group, and the wholesale division to the private equity firm TPG, for a combined value of Rs 100 crore (Rs 1 billion).
The Chennai-based Shriram Group is likely to take over the cash-strapped front-end retail company of Vishal Retail Ltd, after leading private equity investor Texas Pacific Group takes charge of its wholesale division. This will be subject to approval from all stakeholders and regulators.
Delhi-based Vishal Retail said Wednesday it plans to invest Rs 200 crore (Rs 2 billion) to set up 40 additional stores mostly in northern India.
According to sources in the Future Group, it plans to tie up with international retailers in different segments. "We can certainly look at bringing in foreign capital to our subsidiaries now," said a group official, who did not wish to be quoted. Under the new guidelines, downstream investments by an Indian company that has foreign investment but is owned and controlled by Indians will not be considered as FDI.
Agarwal built Vishal Retail from scratch into a chain of highly lucrative hypermarkets and discount superstores.
R C Agarwal, promoter of beleaguered Vishal Retail, on Wednesday came out in support of the offer from Texas Pacific Group (TPG) in preference to that from Kishore Biyani's Future Group.
The retail companies are hoping that the Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee would accord industry status to the sector and allow unrestricted foreign direct investment inflow.
The disclosure comes within days after Kishore Biyani-owned Pantaloon Retail said that same store sales in December dropped for the first time in four years. Analysts were more surprised at the drop in value retailing, which indicated that value retailers were not benefiting from downtrading.
Retail companies in the organised sector want the government to take a series of initiatives in the forthcoming Budget that would boost consumption, and have sought 'industry status' as well as abolition of the service tax to beat back the slowdown.
Rustomjee Business School, promoted by realtor Boman Irani, stands tall on S V Road in Mumbai's Dahisar area. Just a year ago, it was the site of an equally impressive Mega Mart promoted by Vishal Retail.
E-tailing, or online retailing, is catching up in India with major retailers setting shop online.
Per capita income in India is increasing, including in tier-II and tier-III cites. In these cities the competition is less, as are the rentals. It is very viable as a business proposition to open showrooms in these cites.
Bain alleges that it invested around $60 mn based on false financial statements that EY had audited and certified
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