Lite Bite Foods awarded food & beverage concessions for Mumbai Metro 1

Monday, March 24, 2014 08:00 IST 
Our Bureau, Mumbai

Lite Bite Foods Pvt Ltd (LBF) – one of India’s leading food and beverage retail companies - has been awarded the food and beverage concessions for Mumbai Metro 1 - the city’s first metro line of the city, which will encompass twelve stations, i.e. from Versova to Ghatkopar.

Each station would be equipped with two food outlets - one of Street Foods of India and one of Baker’s Street. While the former would serve roadside snacks, the latter would serve cakes, coffees, smoothies, shakes and savoury confectioneries.    
  
LBF would support these outlets - covering an area of approximately 6,400sq ft - from their commissary near the airport with world-class equipment and about 120 personnel to begin with. It would offer a huge array of products at low price points.

The company’s promoters, Amit Burman and Rohit Aggarwal, said, “We are proud to announce our second big venture in Mumbai (after the city’s airport) and would do our best to establish ourselves in the city of dreams.”

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Tesco to invest GBP85m in Tata JV in India

By Katy Askew | 21 March 2014

UK retailer Tesco has confirmed that it will invest GBP85m (US$132m) to establish a multi-brand retail joint venture with Trent Ltd, part of the Tata Group, in India.

The groups had signaled that they were looking at a deal to Tesco take a 50% stake in Trent at the end of last year. 

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The news follows regulatory approval of the move from India's Foreign Investment Promotion Board, Tesco said today (21 March).

Trent Hypermarket operates the Star Bazaar chain in India.

Tesco and Tata have worked in together in India since 2008. Under wholesale and franchise agreements, Tesco has supplied goods to the Star Bazaar chain.

The Indian business said the two companies would look to expand the Star Bazaar chain, which currently has stores in Maharashtra and Karnataka. 

Tesco is the first international retailer to take advantage of the easing of Indian restrictions on foreign direct investment in multi-brand retail.

Foreign companies were prohibited from investing in multi-brand retail outlets in India and overseas retailers like Tesco sought wholesale and franchise deals.

However, last year, India said it would allow international investors to own up to 51% of multi-brand outlets. 

International retailers including Carrefour and Wal-Mart have been studying the implications of the new regulations - and whether the remaining restrictions in areas such as sourcing could prove prohibitive to profitable growth. 

Earlier this month, Carrefour CEO Georges Plassat indicated the company could reach a decision on whether to expand in India in "a matter of months".

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