Pantaloon Retail India Ltd (PRIL), the country's largest listed supermarket operator, plans to spend Rs360 crore in the remainder of this fiscal to add up to 2.4-million sq ft of retail space to existing operations, reports PTI.

"We have a capacity expansion (capex) plan of Rs360 crore to add up 2.4 million sq ft of retail space...That is in the Pantaloon Retail balance-sheet and not the subsidiaries. That's the plan for the balance seven-eight months of this financial year," Pantaloon's managing director, Kishore Biyani, told reporters after the company's 22nd AGM.

The company, a part of the diversified Future Group, begins its financial year in July. The Future Group operates 15 million sq ft of retail space across India, of which Pantaloon Retail, with its multiple lifestyle and value chains, operates around 13-million sq ft.

Pantaloon Retail is also looking to hive off its value retail chain—Big Bazaa—into a separate subsidiary, which may eventually float an initial public offer (IPO).

"We are looking at spinning off Big Bazaar into a separate company... If we need capital, probably we can raise it through a public issue," Mr Biyani said.

He said the company will open 155 Big Bazaar stores by 2014, increasing its total network to 275 stores. PRIL also plans to deploy a part of the Rs500-crore it raised through a QIP issue last week for expansion and debt reduction.
— Yogesh Sapkale