Reliance brings India’s first 7-Eleven stores to Mumbai
US headquartered chain is one of the world’s biggest
Asia’s richest man, Mukesh Ambani, will bring 7-Eleven convenience stores to India, adding to his burgeoning retail empire.
Ambani’s Reliance Retail ltd. secured the pact just days after troubled supermarket operator Future Retail ltd. terminated its own agreement with one of the world’s biggest convenience chains. The first 7-Eleven store will open Saturday in a Mumbai suburb, and will be followed by a further “rapid roll-out” starting across India’s financial hub, Reliance Retail said in a statement Thursday, without providing financial details.
Reliance scooped the transaction
after indebted Future Retail this week said it ended the agreement it inked with 7-Eleven in 2019 by mutual consent after it was unable to open the brand’s stores or pay franchisee fees. Ambani is locked in a bitter court battle with Amazon for the assets of Future Retail, which is one of the biggest brick-and-mortar chains in India.
The move is part of the powerful tycoon’s wider ambition to seize India’s growing formalised retail space.