No 'Bijli Ghar' from Future Group

Future Group has shelved its plan to set up standalone stores for retailing electrical and lighting products to conserve cash. Home Solutions Retail India Ltd (HSRIL), a unit of Future Group, was planning to enter the Rs 2,000-crore lighting products market with its own stores, called ‘Bijli Ghar’. These were proposed to be set up initially as shop-in-shop in Big Bazaar stores and as standalone stores later. The group was targeting revenues of Rs 100 crore in the first year of operations.

The company has instead launched compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs) and electrical accessories under the ‘LSL’ brand.

HSRIL had set up two joint ventures with lighting products manufacturer Asian Electronics — Asian Retail Lighting and Home Lighting India Ltd — to manufacture lighting products for the retail sector and for home lighting. Recently, Asian Electronics announced it was merging Home Lighting with Asian Retail Lighting and disposing its entire investments in Home Lighting.