Pantaloons to open five stores this week

Pantaloons is planning to invest close to Rs 150 crore in eastern India by March this year.

It also plans to add 6.25 lakh sq ft of retail space in eastern India this year.

At present, the company commands close to 7.5 lakh sq ft of retail space in eastern India.

It invested close to Rs 100 crore in 2007.

The company will also have 1500 more employees in eastern India by March this year, from the current manpower strength of 2700.

Sandeep Marwaha, head of operations in eastern India, said, "We will open HomeTown in Kolkata this year. We will also bring Central and Brand Factory to Kolkata by 2010."

The company has already signed up properties worth 30 lakh sq ft in eastern India, of which 7.5 lakh sq ft is operational at present.

Future Group is also opening its pharma store - Tulsi - in Durgapur, Raipur and Siliguri.

It will also open its Shoe Factory format, the fitness format 'Fit & Active' and the beauty and wellness format 'Star & Sitara' in eastern India this year.

According to Sanjeev Agrawal, CEO-Pantaloons, "We are looking at more than doubling our footprint in Kolkata because almost one-third of our revenues come from this region."

The Group expects to increase its revenues to $7-8 billion by 2011, of which Big Bazaar is expected to contribute a large chunk of around $4 billion.

Big Bazaar has emerged as the largest retail format of Future Group's retail division.

Currently India has more than 80 Big Bazaars and plans are to scale it up to 160 by the year end.