In the year 2009, Hariyali Kisan Bazaar (HKB), the rural retail venture of DCM Shriram Consolidated Limited (DSCL), will be hived off as a separate company.
Speaking to Indiaretailing, Ajay Shriram, chairman and senior managing director of DSCL, said, “We seek to hive off HKB from DSCL as a 100 per cent subsidiary company in the next calendar year.”
At present, HKB is a business division of the Rs 2,800 crore DSCL and is one of the verticals of the agri business venture of the company. Shriram also said that HKB is seeking to expand its stores from the present 185 to 300 by the end of the current fiscal. Also, the company has identified two new southern states — Tamil Nadu and Karnataka — where it will roll out its outlets post-March 2009. At present, Andhra Pradesh is the only southern state in which HKB is operational. Other states in which Hariyali currently operates are U.P. Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, M.P. and Uttaranchal.
The large format stores of HKB range between 10,000 to 15,000 sq feet in size, whereas the smaller ones vary between 3,000 to 6,000 sq feet. All sell agricultural inputs, FMCG products, white goods and also banking and insurance products. One of its USPs is the technical know-how it offers to farmers to enhance crop yields.
