Aadhaar – Future Group + Godrej Rural India

The Indian FMCG and Telecom companies showed to the rest of the world the potential rural India has. Pantaloon Retail is talking to Godrej Agrovert to get the biggest slice in Rural Retail chain – Aadhaar. Currently their are 65 stores in Punjab, Haryana and Maharashtra offering agri products, consumer durables, apparel and FMCG Products.

Cash starpped Future group is floating a SPV to enter into a JV with Godrej Agrovert. Future Group’s stake would be split amongst group companies including Pantaloon retail and Future Capital Ventures.

The deal is not as simple as it looks. Future Group is aiming to gain grounds in sourcing agricultural commodities from this rural venture. Future Group official added,

With the help of this JV company we would be able to add and expand our core retailing operations. Several synergies would get exploited as a result of this venture and this would include strengthening of our sourcing capabilities as well as building the private label business in this format.

The decision is likely to emerge by the end of March on holding pattern by each of these companies.