Sahara group said o Monday that it aims to start the first phase of its proposed retail trading operations in five states on August 15.
The five states where Shara will introduce its retail operations are Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Bihar and Jharkhand.
Sahara group's initial investment in retail operations will be Rs 30bn and it expects Rs 400-500bn in annual turnover over the next two years.
Sahara will distribute 1,700 retail products through 305 warehouses in 285 towns in India, the group said in a statement today. Sahara group aims to be in 998 towns and cities by March 2013.
It plans to have 60,000 franchisee, co-owned Q Shop outlets by 2013.
Sahara Q Shops would market products under 73 categories, including staples, processed foods, personal care and home care products.
Subrata Roy, the founder chairman of the Sahara group, said today that he is in favour of allowing FDI in multi-brand retail in the country.
However, he added that FDI in multi-brand retail should have domestic manufacturing clause.
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