The Competition Commission of India (CCI) has approved the acquisition of food wholesaler Metro Cash & Carry India by Reliance Retail Ventures Limited (RRVL). In December 2022, RRVL and Metro Cash and Carry India signed an agreement. This deal is worth Rs 2,850 crore. Metro is a German company which started its operations in India in 2003 and introduced cash-and-carry business format.

Will get access to prime location store
With this acquisition, Reliance Retail will have stores at prime metro locations in Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Amritsar, Ahmedabad, Surat, Indore, Meerut, Lucknow, Nashik, Visakhapatnam, Guntur, Vijayawada, Tumakuru, Ghaziabad and Hubli. Will get access. As part of the deal, Reliance Retail will also get a large base of registered kirana stores, institutional customers and a strong supplier network.

Company has 31 large format stores
RRVL will also get access to Metro’s network of HoReCa (hotels, restaurants and caterers) customers. The international food wholesaler has 31 large format stores across 21 cities in the country with approximately 3,500 employees. So far in FY22, Metro India has achieved sales of 29.8 million Euros. This acquisition will further strengthen the physical store footprint of Reliance Retail.

will help small businesses
Isha Ambani, Director, Reliance Retail Ventures said, “Metro India is a pioneer and dominant player in the Indian B2B market and has built a robust multi-channel platform to deliver robust customer experience. We believe that our deep understanding of the Indian merchant/grocer eco-system and Metro India’s healthy assets will help small businesses in India thrive.’

RRVL’s network will increase
The acquisition of METRO Cash & Carry India will further expand RRVL’s network. It already has other omnichannel businesses like JioMart, Ajio, Netmeds, and Jivame in its portfolio. RRVL for the financial year ending March 31, 2022 had a consolidated turnover of approximately Rs 1,99,704 crore and a net profit of approximately Rs 7,055 crore.