Reliance retail shops told to close
Friday, August 24, 2007
THE government of one of India's largest states yesterday ordered the closure of retail stores set up by Reliance Industries citing law enforcement problems.
The move came after traders in northern Uttar Pradesh state attacked Reliance Fresh stores, which the company opened on Wednesday.
"In view of these protests ... the cabinet has decided to order the closure of Reliance stores in (state capital) Lucknow and Varanasi (town)," state chief minister Mayawati Kumari told a news conference.
Reliance which launched its six-billion-dollar retail business last November has some 20 stores across Uttar Pradesh, India's most populous state with nearly 170 million people.
As a host of domestic and international companies seek to invest in India's lucrative US$300-billion retail market, traders and street vendors say their livelihood is threatened.
In May, thousands of vegetable sellers vandalised three Reliance Fresh stores in eastern India in the first violence against the firm's plans to build a local version of US retail giant Wal-Mart.
A Reliance spokesman declined comment.
"We can't comment on it as we haven't seen the order. We see it as a law and order problem, nothing else," the Reliance official said.
In mid-August Reliance unveiled the first of what is says will be 500 hypermarkets to be opened by 2010 amid mounting unease about the impact on India's largely unorganised "mom and pop" shopping landscape.
Reliance is a corporate behemoth which has straddled India's economy for decades with activities in petrochemicals, oil and gas and refining.AFP
The move came after traders in northern Uttar Pradesh state attacked Reliance Fresh stores, which the company opened on Wednesday.
"In view of these protests ... the cabinet has decided to order the closure of Reliance stores in (state capital) Lucknow and Varanasi (town)," state chief minister Mayawati Kumari told a news conference.
Reliance which launched its six-billion-dollar retail business last November has some 20 stores across Uttar Pradesh, India's most populous state with nearly 170 million people.
As a host of domestic and international companies seek to invest in India's lucrative US$300-billion retail market, traders and street vendors say their livelihood is threatened.
In May, thousands of vegetable sellers vandalised three Reliance Fresh stores in eastern India in the first violence against the firm's plans to build a local version of US retail giant Wal-Mart.
A Reliance spokesman declined comment.
"We can't comment on it as we haven't seen the order. We see it as a law and order problem, nothing else," the Reliance official said.
In mid-August Reliance unveiled the first of what is says will be 500 hypermarkets to be opened by 2010 amid mounting unease about the impact on India's largely unorganised "mom and pop" shopping landscape.
Reliance is a corporate behemoth which has straddled India's economy for decades with activities in petrochemicals, oil and gas and refining.AFP
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