Introduction

What’s the Story? Reliance Industries and Tata Group are two of India’s biggest conglomerates, each with diverse businesses across various sectors, including apparel, grocery and electronics. As part of Coresight Research’s Head-to-Head series, we provide insights into the many facets of these two Indian conglomerates, including their performances, business strategies, operating margins, brand portfolios and sustainability initiatives. Why It Matters Reliance Industries’ and Tata Group’s retail verticals rank in the top 10 retail companies in India by revenue (see Figure 1 below). Reliance Retail Ventures, a subsidiary of Reliance Industries, ranks number one with a 67.7% share of the top 10 companies’ fiscal 2021 (ended March 31, 2021, in India) combined revenue. Meanwhile, two of Tata Group’s retail companies—Titan Company and Trent Limited—hold a combined share of 11.4% of the top 10 companies’ 2021 combined revenue.

---

Figure 1. India: Top 10 Retail Companies by Revenue, FY21

Company Name	Retail Sector	Total Revenue, FY21 (USD Mil.)	YoY % Change	Share of Top 10 Combined Revenue (%)
Reliance Retail Ventures	Conglomerate (Apparel, electronics, grocery, jewelry and others)	$19,681.6	(5.7)%	67.7%
Avenue Supermarts	Grocery	$3,300.0	(0.1)%	11.4%
Titan Company (Tata)	Watches and accessories	$2,958.4	5.8%	10.2%
Future Retail	Grocery and electronics	$866.5	(68.0)%	3.0%
Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail	Apparel	$717.5	(38.5)%	2.5%
Trent Limited (Tata)	Apparel, department stores, grocery, cash and carry, wholesale	$354.4	(23.9)%	1.2%
Spencer’s Retail	Grocery	$331.9	(5.3)%	1.1%
Future Lifestyle Fashions	Apparel	$311.2	(62.8)%	1.1%
Arvind Fashions	Apparel	$300.9	(41.4)%	1.0%
Shoppers Stop	Department stores	$239.1	(48.3)%	0.8%
Total		$29,061.5		100%
Total as a % of estimated consumer spending on retail in India		3.6%

This ranking excludes revenues from Tata Group’s privately held businesses, Infiniti Retail and Tata Cliq, as they do not provide revenue information; Fiscal year ended March 31, 2021 Source: S&P Capital IQ/Coresight Research

  We estimate that India’s total consumer spending on core retail categories (food and non-alcoholic beverages; alcoholic beverages, tobacco and narcotics; clothing and footwear; furnishing, household equipment and routine household maintenance; and recreation and culture) will increase by 9.7% year over year in fiscal 2023 to $830.1 billion, based on data from India’s Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MOSPI). We expect this steady growth to continue following fiscal 2023, with spending totaling $1 trillion by fiscal 2025. Reliance Industries plans to acquire around 12 small grocery and nonfood brands for $6.5 billion by the end of 2022, consolidating its position within Indian retail and threatening other major Indian players. Tata Group is likewise looking to consolidate its retail position through various acquisitions in grocery and pharma, as well as the recent launch of its super app, Tata Neu. As Reliance Industries and Tata Group vie for supremacy in India’s retail sector, comparing the two will bring insights into both companies, as well as the country’s overall retail market.

Reliance vs. Tata: Coresight Research Analysis

1. Business Overview Reliance Industries has an extensive portfolio covering many categories, including digital services, media and entertainment, oil refining, petrochemicals, retail and gas exploration and production businesses. Regarding retail specifically, Reliance Industries holds Reliance Retail Ventures and its subsidiary, Reliance Retail. Founded in 2006, Reliance Retail is one of the largest retailers in India and operates a chain of convenience stores, online stores, supermarkets and specialty retail locations. Likewise, Tata Group holds companies across various categories, such as aerospace and defense, consumer and retail, financial services, information technology, infrastructure, manufacturing (steel and auto), telecommunications and travel. Tata Group entered the retail world in 1998 by establishing the fashion and lifestyle chain Westside. Since then, Tata Group has launched or acquired various brands across consumer durables, tea and packaged drinking water, as well as set up various retail companies, including Infiniti Retail, Titan Company and Trent Limited. Titan Company and Trent Limited, along with the company’s consumer business, are housed under the Tata Consumer and Retail umbrella. Tata’s consumer business covers out-of-home retail, such as cafes and the food and beverage categories. In Figure 2 below, we provide a business overview of Reliance Industries and Tata Group, identifying and examining key metrics of the two conglomerates.

---

Figure 2. Reliance Industries and Tata Group: Key Metrics

Metric	Reliance Industries	Tata Group
Year Founded	1973	1868
Headquarters	Mumbai, Maharashtra, India	Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
Business Sectors	Digital services, media and entertainment, oil refining, petrochemicals, retail and gas exploration and production businesses	Aerospace and defense, consumer and retail, financial services, information technology, infrastructure, manufacturing, telecommunications and travel
No. of Publicly Listed Companies (as of December 31, 2021)	Seven	29
Countries of Operation	107	100+
Group Revenue (FY21, USD Bil.)	$73.8	$103.0
Retail Revenue* (FY21, USD Bil.)	$19.7 (Reliance Retail Ventures)	$4.8 (Titan Company, Trent Limited)
Market Capitalization (FY21, USD Bil.)	$168.6	$242.0
No. of Employees (FY21)	236,334	800,000
Retail Store Count (FY21)	12,711	Nearly 1,400: 1,909 under Titan Company; 400 under Trent Limited

*Excludes revenues from Tata Group’s privately held businesses, Infiniti Retail and Tata Cliq, as they do not provide revenue information Fiscal year ended March 31, 2021 Source: Company reports/S&P Capital IQ/Coresight Research

  2. Revenue Growth and Performance While Reliance Retail Ventures registered a high CAGR of 69.4% between fiscal 2017 and fiscal 2020, pandemic-led impacts brought down its year-over-year growth rate to a single digit, 5.7%, in fiscal 2021, with revenue dropping to $19.7 billion. On the other hand, Tata Consumer and Retail recorded a CAGR of 16.3% between fiscal 2017 and fiscal 2020. While year-over-year growth rates slowed in 2021 compared to previous years, its higher 2021 revenues can be attributed to the improved performance of its consumer business and Titan Company.

---

Figure 3. Reliance Retail Ventures and Tata Consumer and Retail Total Revenue (Left Axis; USD Bil.) and Revenue Growth (Right Axis; YoY %) [caption id="attachment_152954" align="aligncenter" width="700"] Tata Consumer and Retail comprises Tata Group’s consumer business, Titan Company and Trent Retail
Source: Company reports[/caption]   Reliance Retail Ventures dominates the retail market with more than four times the revenue of Tata Consumer and Retail, despite its revenue decline in 2021. From 2018 through 2020, the company saw growth in all business verticals. Reliance Retail attributes its retail growth during that period to its favorable product mix, store expansion (it hit 10,000 stores in 2019) and a surge in same-store sales—the company achieved ₹1 trillion ($12.8 billion) in turnover in 2019—according to its annual reports. However, in 2021, as stated, Reliance Retail Ventures’ performance declined due to pandemic-led restrictions in India, as 20% of the company’s stores were non-operational. At the same time, its open stores witnessed a 65% year-over-year decline in foot traffic, according to the company. Tata Consumer and Retail’s growth continued, albeit at a slower rate, in fiscal 2021. Its food and beverage segments registered year-over-year revenue growth of 36% and 18%, to $589.3 million and $312.8 million, respectively, in 2021. In the same year, its international beverages segment revenue grew by 8% year over year to $444.3 million. Titan Company’s jewelry business delivered higher sales in 2021, powered by wedding spending and travel retail, registering 11.3% year-over-year growth. However, Tata Group’s other public retail vertical, Trent Limited, which houses its apparel, lifestyle and grocery businesses, recorded a 24.0% year-over-year decline in revenue in 2021, to $354.4 million, due to temporary store closures and public pandemic restrictions. Geography While the majority of Tata Consumer and Retail’s revenue comes from India, one-third of its revenue for its consumer business comes from the UK, the US and other international markets, according to the company’s annual report (Figure 4 below). Likewise, Reliance Retail Ventures’ revenue primarily comes from the Indian market; however, it did export $18.6 billion worth of goods in fiscal 2021.

---

Figure 4. Tata Consumer and Retail: Revenue Split by Geography in FY21 (%) [caption id="attachment_152955" align="aligncenter" width="480"] Source: Company reports[/caption]   3. Business Coverage—Retail and Consumer Reliance Retail Ventures’ subsidiary, Reliance Retail, operates shopping malls, supermarkets and convenience, online and specialty stores. Reliance Retail has also built partnerships with renowned global brands, such as 7-Eleven. As such, the company is a relatively better retail player, given its large portfolio that caters to a wide consumer base. Though Tata Group operates its retail business under various public and private banners, the conglomerate focuses more on its global consumer businesses. It recently integrated its foods and beverages businesses and has a more specific strategic growth plan for its consumer business compared to its retail banners (discussed later in this report). Below, we look at key retail categories and brands for both companies (Figures 5 and 6), as well as Tata Group’s consumer business.

---

Figure 5. Reliance Retail’s Categories and Brands

Category	Brands	Description
Apparel and footwear		Reliance Trends is a value fashion retail store chain Experiential apparel retail chain Project Eve offers womenswear in Indian, international and designer styles; stores also feature experiences such as salons, cafés and personal stylist services Trends Footwear, a footwear retail chain
Consumer electronics		Consumer electronics retail store chain Reliance Digital also features a service arm, ResQ, for installation and service-related issues Jio Stores offer mobile phones, tablets, accessories and mobile and broadband network connection services
Groceries and daily essentials		Reliance Fresh is a convenience store chain Supermarket chain Reliance Smart also offers general merchandise, apparel and appliances Neighborhood small format store chain Reliance Smart Point also acts as a last-mile delivery point for all online orders Reliance operates American convenience store chain 7-Eleven in India (through a franchise model)
Jewelry		Reliance Jewels, a jewelry retail chain
Toys		Reliance acquired toy store chain Hamleys in 2019
Consumer products	N/A	Reliance Consumer Brands offers CPG products in the beauty, food, home care, hygiene and grooming categories
Online		Reliance operates multi-category online shopping portal JioMart Ajio is an apparel, fashion and lifestyle brand
Other businesses and categories	N/A	Reliance Brands operates many brands worldwide across various categories, including the luxury, super-premium, and premium segments; it also has partnerships with 35 international brands such as Burberry, Hugo Boss, Marks & Spencer, Michael Kors, Paul Smith and Steve Madden Reliance Mall runs neighborhood malls with third-party retailers and  entertainment and food options

Source: Company reports/Coresight Research

---

  Figure 6. Tata Group’s Retail Banners, Categories and Brands

Retail Banner	Category	Brands	Description
Titan Company	Consumer and lifestyle		Titan and Tanishq manufacture and sell fragrances, eyewear, jewelry and watches, catering to the luxury, premium, mid-market, and mass market segments
Trent Limited	Apparel, accessories, lifestyle, and grocery		Landmark, Westside and Zudio sell apparel and lifestyle products via online and in-person stores Trent Limited has joint ventures (JVs) with various international retailers: Trent works with British supermarket chain Tesco to operate hypermarkets and supermarkets under the banner of Star Bazaar Trent Limited’s JV with Inditex allows Trent to operate the stores for two of the Spanish fashion company’s brands—Zara and Massimo Dutti—in India Trent acquired a 51% stake in wholesale business Booker India, a subsidiary of UK wholesaler Booker Group, in 2019
Infiniti Retail	Consumer electronics		Croma operates in-person and online consumer electronic stores

Source: Company reports/Coresight Research

  Tata Group’s consumer business spans the food, beverage and out-of-home retail categories.

• Its beverage portfolio comprises coffee, packaged drinking water, tea, coffee and ready-to-drink beverages, such as juice and glucose-based hydration drinks.
• The company’s food assortment includes cereals, ready-to-cook items, snacks, small meals and spices.
• Its out-of-home retail offerings center around cafes and coffeehouses. Under out-of-home retail, Tata Consumer and Retail has Tata Starbucks Private Limited, a 50:50 joint venture company owned by Tata Consumer Products and the Starbucks Corporation, an American chain of coffeehouses.

Tata Group launched its Tata Neu super app (a single mobile or web application that offers a portfolio of services and products) in April 2022. Tata Neu seamlessly integrates the group’s most trusted brands, products and services into a single platform for a consumer-focused, future-oriented experience. The super app offers discounts and consumer benefits through NeuCoins—rewards that customers earn for every successful transaction on the Tata Neu app and can redeem on future purchases—and NeuPass, an exclusive membership program that offers a wide range of privileges to subscribers. However, Tata Neu doesn’t feature products and services from third-party brands, although the company has stated it plans to integrate different brands later. Another limitation the app faces is its inability to let users perform multiple tasks simultaneously. For example, despite being in the same app, ordering vegetables and booking a plane flight require separate checkouts. Still, Tata Neu has been downloaded over 5 million times on the Google Play Store. Store Portfolio As of fiscal 2021, Reliance Retail Ventures has 12,711 stores, spanning 33.8 million square feet (3.1 million square meters), across the consumer electronics, fashion, grocery and lifestyle categories. Only 77 stores operate outside India. Figure 7 shows the distribution of Reliance Retail stores by geography and categories.

---

Figure 7. Reliance Retail Ventures’ Store Distribution by Geography and Categories* [caption id="attachment_152978" align="aligncenter" width="700"] *Excludes 77 stores outside India
**Fashion and lifestyle comprise apparel, footwear, jewelry, and toys
Source: Company reports[/caption]   In total, Tata Group operates just under 1,900 stores as of fiscal 2021. Its retail arm, Trent Limited, has over 400 stores in the apparel, accessories, lifestyle, and grocery categories, while Titan Company has 1,909 stores spanning 2.5 million square feet (0.2 million square meters) across the apparel, accessories and lifestyle categories. Finally, under its Infiniti Retail banner, the conglomerate operates 150 stores of its consumer electronics brand, Croma. Below, Figure 8 shows the store count for each of Tata Group’s retail banners and the brands that operate under said banners.

---

Figure 8. Tata Trent and Titan Company’s Store Portfolio by Brands (Fiscal 2021)

Retail Banner	Brand	Category	No. of Stores (FY21)
Trent Limited	Westside	Apparel, footwear, and accessories	174
	Zudio	Apparel	133
	Star	Hypermarkets and supermarkets	60
	Zara	Apparel and accessories	21
	Booker		9
	Landmark	Lifestyle and entertainment	6
	Utsa	Apparel and accessories	4
	Massimo Dutti	Apparel	3
Total			410
Titan Company*	Titan	Watches, eyewear, and lifestyle	1,096
	Tanishq	Jewelry	218
	Taneira	Apparel (Ethnic wear)	14
Total			1,328
Infiniti Retail	Croma	Consumer electronics	150
Grand Total			1,888

*Titan Company’s store count does not include franchise stores and has exclusive showrooms only as these counts are not included in the company’s annual report Source: Company reports/Company website

  4. Growth Strategies According to its annual report, Reliance Retail focuses on transforming the retail landscape through its “New Commerce” model, encompassing producers, manufacturers, brands, retailers and consumers through the following initiatives:

• Expand its retail footprint—Reliance Retail plans to grow its physical stores and digital platforms presence, aiming to operate two-thirds of its stores in Tier 2, 3 and 4 towns and cities in India, which are in a growth phase.
• Invest in building a connected supply chain—The company will build a modern supply chain infrastructure to link all sourcing locations through tech-enabled logistics, automated warehousing and a last-mile fulfillment ecosystem.
• Build partnerships with micro-small-and-medium enterprises (MSMEs)—Reliance Retail plans to partner with millions of traders and suppliers to digitally empower them to grow their businesses.
• Invest in design and product development—The company will continue to invest in building design and product development centers, creating high-quality products to meet its consumers’ needs.
• Develop digital technologies and platforms—Reliance Retail is developing solutions in analytics, augmented and virtual reality (AR and VR) technologies, deep learning algorithms and language processing, leveraging its Jio Platforms.
• Reliance Retail will also focus on new businesses and segments to strengthen its brands’ offerings.

While Reliance Retail’s growth strategy is more consolidated, Tata Group has more robust and varied strategies, depending on the banner in question. For instance, one of Tata Group’s retail arms, Titan Company, stated in its 2021 annual report that it will focus on the following growth plans:

• The company plans to establish itself as a key player in the wearables segment by the end of 2023 by improving its product and services.
• Titan Company wants to capitalize on the “watch as an accessory” opportunity by transforming its chain into a multi-brand watch outlet, strengthening its omnichannel offerings and increasing watch-related marketing.
• The company will augment its jewelry business through multi-pronged strategies in the wedding market, such as focusing on engagement rings and improving the state-level relevance through its “Many Indias” program.
• Finally, Titan Company aims to leverage its eyewear division’s competitive innovation advantage and utilize the market opportunities provided by the increased need for vision correction among the young population (due to increased screen time).

Meanwhile, the Trent Limited banner stated the following growth plan, which focuses on developing its brand, expanding its store footprint and scaling its supply chain, as we outline below. Brand

• Develop unique brand concepts to address different customer segments
• Focus on differentiating products and rolling new offerings out quickly
• Offer on-trend fashion at affordable prices
• Provide a superior browsing experience to consumers through attractive in-store displays and convenient and easy-to-navigate store layouts
• Improve brand offerings in key categories

Store Expansion

• Targeted addition of 100 fashion stores by the end of 2023
• Expand physical stores to attractive markets
• Improve online store

Supply Chain

• Scale up its supply chain, focusing on inventory and increasing freshness in its product offerings, especially food and grocery for its Star Bazaar chain

Finally, per its annual report, Tata Consumer Products, Tata Group’s consumer packaged goods company, will focus on the following six key strategies for growth in 2022:

• Empower core businesses and accelerate growth—Tata Consumer Products will continue to invest in brand building, the “premiumization” of its product portfolio and its distribution in India and abroad, as well as develop alternate channels for growth.
• Boost digital and innovation—The company will increase its digitization investments and efforts in the areas of distribution, procurement, product development, sales and its supply chain. As a result, it hopes to push its innovation agenda, with a target of 4% of revenues from innovation in the upcoming years.
• Unravel synergies—Tata Consumer Products plans to explore alternate business models and achieve synergy through proper integration of its businesses.
• Look for new opportunities—The company will leverage industry trends to cater to consumer needs, piloting new product launches and reinvesting capital into businesses with high-growth potential.
• Build a future-oriented organization—Tata Consumer Products wants to redesign its organizational structure and improve its capabilities by focusing on research and development and digital transformation.
• Embed sustainability into business—The company will focus on building a sustainable and profitable business model for all its stakeholders.

5. E-Commerce and Digital Initiatives Reliance Industries plans to continue its large-scale digital transformation and technology adoption initiatives:

• One such initiative is to transform India’s unorganized retail landscape by partnering with small merchants and traders to digitally empower them.
• Reliance Industries also plans to strengthen its omnichannel capabilities and build new e-commerce platforms by leveraging emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), blockchain, cloud computing and the Internet of Things (IoT) to create disruptive, value-adding solutions.
• The conglomerate will focus on analytics and AR/VR technologies to augment its retail business offerings.
• Reliance Industries also plans to increase its pan-India reach by scaling up its e-commerce platforms.
• The company will also leverage its other business verticals, such as Jio Platforms, to augment its digital capabilities and tech initiatives.

Tata Group is focused on deep-tech adoption for its digital initiatives, and, despite having its own communication platform, the conglomerate stated it plans to accomplish the initiatives with the help of third-party tech providers. Specifically, Tata Group’s Titan Company will focus its digital initiatives and technology adoptions on strengthening connections with its customers:

• Titan Company will continue leveraging new technologies, such as AI in design, IoT in gold plating and robotic automation in invoice processing, helping improve speed and accuracy while reducing overall costs.
• The company will concentrate on omnichannel marketing, rolling out AR/VR options, video chats, and endless aisles for a seamless shopping experience.
• Titan Company will continue pairing retail outlets, kiosks and multi-brand outlets with e-commerce websites, leveraging e-commerce channels to improve brand awareness, engagement and reach.

Meanwhile, Trent Limited will use digital media to expand its reach and cater to a younger audience, specifically using social media channels for digital promotions and geo-targeted digital campaigns. Digital transformation is also one of the major objectives for Tata Consumer Products, according to its annual report. Figure 9 below shows the Digital Transformation Ecosystem of Tata Consumer Products and its key planned outcomes.

• Tata Consumer Products plans to embed digital tools such as Sales Force Automation (SFA) and Distribution Management Systems (DMS) in its sales and distribution network, as well as its supply chain, to bring in more efficiency to its business.
• It will also integrate multiple systems from the German software company SAP into a single SAP S4 Hana platform to develop operational efficiencies.
• The company will implement Integrated Business Planning (IBP), helping to create an efficient supply chain.

---

Figure 9. Tata Consumer Products’ Digital Transformation Tools and Anticipated Outcomes [caption id="attachment_152979" align="aligncenter" width="700"] Source: Company reports/Coresight Research[/caption]   6. Sustainability Initiatives In Figure 10, we summarize the sustainability accomplishments and initiatives by Reliance Industries and Tata Group.

---

Figure 10. Sustainability Accomplishments and Initiatives by Reliance Industries and Tata Group

Sustainability Initiatives	Reliance Industries	Tata Group
Environment-related Initiatives	Will continue sourcing carbon-neutral oil for its operations, sourced two million barrels in 2021 Aims to leverage technology for energy savings	Titan Company uses bio-based polymer from castor seeds to make frames 100% of roof area at tea packeting units covered by rainwater harvesting structures in 2021 100% sustainable source tea for Tata Tea’s Tetley brand by 2023
Air emissions	Reduced Scope 1 and 2 carbon emissions by 2.83 million tons and 0.2 million tons, respectively, in 2021	Trent aims for a 3% reduction in carbon emissions from each of its stores by 2023
Water management	Recycled 99 million kiloliters of water in 2021	In 2021, 87% of water used for manufacturing at Titan Company was recycled water
Waste management	Recycled 2.3 billion PET plastic bottles in 2021 Collaborated with skincare and cosmetics brand Forest Essentials on an initiative to incentivize Forest Essentials’ customers to recycle product waste via a rewards program	54% of gold and 47% of brass used by Tanishq came from recycled sources in 2021 53% recyclable packaging used for Tata Salt in 2021 Zero waste to landfill for its global beverages business in 2021
Energy efficiency	5.1 million gigajoules of energy saved in 2021 691,217 gigajoules of renewable energy used for company operations in 2021	Tanishq plans to set up a two-megawatt solar rooftop plant to reduce carbon footprint in 2022 Its use of renewable energy increased from 14.1% in 2020 to 25.8% in 2021
Carbon neutral	Plans to have net-zero carbon emissions by 2035	Titan Company’s jewelry division to become carbon neutral by 2023 Titan Company’s eyewear division aims to reduce its carbon footprint by 40 tons in 2022

Source: Company reports

  Overall, Reliance Industries has more specific sustainability goals, which it tracks through performance and quantitative outputs. Tata Group has broader sustainability initiatives spanning ethical sourcing, recycling and energy conservation. Tata Group also claims that the recent integration of its food and businesses led to higher Scope 1 and 2 carbon emissions between 2019 and 2021. As a result, in 2021, it had to retread ground, instead of making substantial sustainability progress. 7. Recent Acquisitions by Reliance and Tata Figure 11 below shows the acquisitions by Reliance Retail and Tata Consumer Products between January 1, 2021, and May 31, 2022.

---

Figure 11. Reliance Retail and Tata Acquisitions, 2021–22

Date	Acquired Brand/Company	Description
Reliance Retail Acquisitions
March 2022	Purple Panda Fashions	Reliance Retail acquired an 89% equity stake in Purple Panda Fashions, the company that owns lingerie and intimate wear brand Clovia for $121.7 million.
	Abraham & Thakore	Reliance Retail purchased fashion, lifestyle, and designer luxury brand Abraham & Thakore to expand its presence in luxury retail.
January 2022	Dunzo	The company acquired a 25.8% stake in quick commerce startup Dunzo for $240 million as a foray into the quick commerce space.
	Addverb Technologies	Reliance Retail acquired a 54% stake in robotics company Addverb Technologies for $132 million. The association offers opportunities to deploy robotics in various segments, such as retail, e-commerce, grocery and fashion.
October 2021	Manish Malhotra	The company acquired a 40% stake in fashion label and couture brand Manish Malhotra, diversifying its portfolio of designer labels across different price points.
	Ritu Kumar	Reliance Retail acquired 52% equity in fashion label and designer-wear brand Ritu Kumar and now plans to develop and launch affordable collections with the brand.
	Milkbasket	It acquired a 96.5% stake in Milkbasket, a subscription-based micro-delivery service for grocery and daily essentials, for $40 million.
September 2021	Portico	In 2021, Reliance Retail completed its acquisition of home fashion brand Portico, a company that manufactures and sells bed and bath products.
July 2021	Justdial	The company acquired a 15.7% stake in local search and e-commerce company Justdial for $469 million. The platform aims to digitalize the businesses of MSMEs.
Tata Consumer Products Acquisitions
February 2021	Kottaram Agro Foods	Tata Consumer Products acquired 100% of ready-to-eat brand Soulfull’s parent company Kottaram Agro Foods for $20 million.

Source: Company reports/The Economic Times/Times of India/Coresight Research

  By the start of 2023, Reliance Retail plans to build a portfolio of 50 to 60 brands across the grocery, household, and personal care categories, acquiring small grocery and nonfood brands to do so. The company is also talking with approximately 30 local consumer brands to either fully acquire them or form JVs. Reliance Retail, through its above-mentioned and upcoming acquisitions, plans to take on CPG giants such as Unilever, Nestlé and PepsiCo in India. Tata Consumer Products is planning to strengthen its position in the CPG sector by acquiring five personal and homecare brands, according to the company. The planned acquisitions will enable the company to have a presence in new categories, including home cleaners, detergents and personal care.

What We Think

Overall, Reliance Industries continues to be a leader in the retail segment, via Reliance Retail, where Tata Group has taken a low-key approach with its public and private retail and consumer brands. We believe Reliance Retail’s acquisition of consumer-focused brands will offer stiff competition to Tata Consumer and Retail. However, Reliance Industries should be mindful of Tata Group’s deep pockets, expertise in different sectors, consolidation and its super app. We believe that both Reliance Retail and Tata Consumer and Retail will look at India’s lower-tier markets for their physical and digital expansions. Both these companies will witness further growth, fueled by increased consumer spending in core retail categories. Both companies will focus on expanding their store footprint and growing their portfolios of brands, with digital and tech initiatives further accelerating growth.