"Future is thinking beyond horizon" & in order to keep its pace with the modern retail, one of the fastest growing retail chain in India, Vishal Ritail Limited is spreading its wings.

Instead of resting on its laurels the Group are busy identifying new avenues of growth by venturing in other formats like cash & carry, convenios as well as specialty stores and inspiring local retailers to grow along with the big names. The group is also in talk with HPCL & has come up with an institute to train manpower for the service industry.

Vishal Retail Limited, Flagship Company of Vishal Group, engaged in Hyper Market stores with an average area of 25,000 to 30,000 sq. ft. through an impressive chain of more than 100 fully integrated stores in spread of more than the area of around 22, 00,000 sq. ft. in 69 cities across India & has a plan to cross total retail area of 35 lakh sq. ft. in tier II and tier III cities by the end of 2009.

According to Mr. Ram Chandra Agarwal, CMD, Vishal Retail Limited, the group owes its origin to a small 50 sq ft shop in Kolkata's Lal Bazaar that started selling readymade garments. In tune with the pulse of the market, he envisioned a mega store that would sell garments at prices none other could match.

The first big store opened in Calcutta's Esplanade area in 1997, under the banner of Vishal Garments. He was involved in all the aspects of the business: right from sourcing the garments to interacting with customers. And this led to his greatest finding "The Vishal Group."

After identifying the immense market in fashion garment for the masses, He moved to delhi in 2001 and opened his first store in Delhi's Rajouri Garden by the name of Vishal Mega Mart (The jewel in Vishal Group¡¯s crown) and then there was no looking back for Mr. Ram Chandra Agarwal.

At present, in addition to garments, Vishal Mega Mart stores retail the entire range of household products, FMCG and electronic goods. Vishal's prices are roughly 15 to 20 per cent less than other mass market garment labels.

Mr. Ram Chandra Agarwal, CMD, Vishal Retail Limited believes that the shopping habits of Indians are changing due to their growing disposable income, higher aspirations, relative increase in the younger population, and the change in attitudes towards shopping.

The emphasis has changed from price consideration to design, quality and trendy. Age is also a major factor that affects the spending decisions of an individual. Consumer spending is an important factor that affects the economic growth and development in a country.

As a trend, consumer is more educated. He has access to all reforms taking place through various arrays of communication. He is becoming a "value shopper" everyday.

Keeping this in mind, the group is now looking for franchisees to join hands with Vishal and grow under common banner. This partnership will help small retailers to survive the onslaught of organized retail as it will enhance their competitiveness.

Small stores can avail of the benefits on account of the economies of scale, a key advantage for big retailers. As per the plans, vishal Retail will completely take over the supply chain of its franchisees and provide them with technology, new practices, visual merchandising skill and special promotional schemes, besides its brand and costumer base.

Some of the Franchisee exclusive business categories are:
- Mens Fashion
- Ladies and Kids
- Footwear
- Toys and Games
- Home ¨C General
- Convenience (FMCG)
- CDIT
- Watches
- Mobile

Another venture of the Group is the agreement with Hindustan petroleum Corporation limited. HPCL has a chain of around 8,000 outlets across India and according to the MoU, the group will open its stores or set up warehouses at some selected outlets of HPCL.

Noting but the manpower is the biggest challenge for any retailer, the Group is also coming up with its own institutes, IME (Institute of Management Excellence) to train people for fulfill the growing demand of trained manpower in their stores as well as the service industry.

The Group also has a plan to raise around Rs 200 crore through preferrential issue in the next few months to fund the company's expansion plan. Mr. R C Agarwal said "Rs 100 crore corpus raised through the initial public offering had already been utilized and more money was required to push the expansion plans further."

The group has registered a consistent growth over the years. It recorded a whopping turnover of more than Rs.600 crores in 2006-07 as opposed to a turnover of Rs 288 Crore for 2005- 2006. This ascent has inspired the Group to chalk out an ambitious expansion program, with expansion and growth plans being implemented on different dimensions.

"Retailing is an engine for taking merchandise to the end-users. There is a lot of opportunity in this sector for us since demand of the potential consumers are not being met under the existing facilities. Therein lies the road to success." says Mr. R C Agarwal.