UK’s Home Retail Group considering India foray

While the status on Tesco’s entry in India is still not clear, a new buzz making rounds is that UK’s Home Retail Group Plc has signalled its intentions for entering the Indian market. In fact, company officials expressed that the management is studying the Indian market very closely and going forward will look at expansion in developing countries. While the company’s strategy for its India entry is not very clear at present, the market has it that it is close to signing a joint venture deal with K Raheja Corp’s Shopper’s Stop for opening its Argos stores in India. In fact, a trade magazine Retail Week reports that the catalogue retailer is just weeks away from agreeing terms with the Indian retailer. Home Retail Group is the UK’s leading home and general merchandise retailer with sales of over £5.5 billion in the last financial year. It sells products under two distinctive and complementary retail brands, Argos and Homebase, which are household names in the UK. Founded in 1973, Argos is a unique catalogue retailer recognised for choice, value and convenience. It sells general merchandise and products for the home from over 670 stores throughout the UK and Republic of Ireland, online and over the telephone. In the last fiscal, Argos’ sales topped £3.8 billion. Argos serves over 130 million customers a year through its stores, taking four million customer orders either online or over the phone.