Bharti Retail plans to expand upto 200 stores by the end of 2010

Bharti Retail Private Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of India’s telecom major Bharti Enterprises, has decided to enter into Indian retail sector in a big way.  
   
The company is expanding its food and grocery stores along with other items under the banner of ‘Easyday’ in the northern and central Indian states such as Punjab, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Delhi.  
   
Last week they opened 'Easyday Market' in Patiala, which is the company’s third in the northern Indian state of Punjab.  
   
Unveiling company’s future plans, Rajan Bharti Mittal, Vice Chairman and Managing Director, Bharti Enterprises, said that the company will expand the number of its retail stores to 200 from 70 at present by the end of 2010.  
   
Bharti Retail operates multiple format retail stores. The company’s neighbourhood format stores operate under the banner "Easyday" and the compact hypermarket format under the banner “Easyday market”.  
   
"We will also enter another zone for retail operations between southern and western India by the end of December or early January," Mittal said.  
   
In the wholesale cash-and-carry format and ‘Easyday’ retail format Bharti Retail has a tie-up with US retail company Wal-Mart.