Meaty Business No More!

I was quite surprised to read that Reliance Retail decided to exit the non-vegetarian products' retail business because this goes against the belief of Reliance's small investors. Growth in animal product's retail trade is second only to that of 'Fruits and vegetables' segment. Reliance's entry into the non-vegetarian food retail business was marked by the opening of 'Delight' stores in 2007. Increasing the number of such stores to nearly a thousand was in the offing but that's an old story now as Reliance Retail has pressed the exit button on this venture. Margins are considerably high in non-vegetarian food retail. This can certainly help the retailers in the organized retail segment in India, as most of these have still not reached the break-even mark in their business and continue to be in the red.

Animal products are accounted under 'Agricultural Output' and make for more than a third of the growth in the segment.