Reliance Town Center set to hit Punjab and Haryana

Reliance Retail is planning to launch a cash and carry cum entertainment mall named Reliance Town Centres (RTC) which will be built over a minimum area of 1.5 lakh sq ft and can go up to 4 lakh sq ft. The proposed retail format is aimed at smaller towns with an approximately population of 14.5 lakh in 11 states. The first Reliance Town Centre was launched in Ahmedabad last year. The company plans to launch about 500 RTCs nationwide by 2010. Reliance Retail has plans to expand the RTCs in Punjab and Haryana with an investment over Rs 800 crore and Rs 500 crore respectively. An area of about 6-10 acres has been acquired and the first RTC is expected to come up in Bhatinda. The roll out is expected to start within the first quarter of 2009. For this project, land has been bought in cities like Amritsar, Jalandhar, Ludhiana, Patiala, Batala, Mukerian, Pathankot and Ferozepur. It has been revealed by the company that Reliance Town Centre will incorporate all the retail verticals under one roof. Reliance Retail has so far invested over Rs 600 crore in Punjab and fresh investment will come through new formats like Reliance Super, Reliance Trends, Reliance Jewel, Reliance Footprint and Reliance Digital. Hypermarts are also expected to come in Punjab over a period of time. The company has already set up mini hyper stores in Amritsar and Ludhiana. In Haryana, 10 cities have been identified which include Karnal, Hisar, Rohtak, Sonepat, Panipat, Panchkula and Gurgaon. Besides Punjab and Haryana, the company plans to launch RTC in Delhi NCR, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and Orissa.