Reliance Retail brings in Carrefour veteran to sharpen grocery play

New Delhi: Reliance Retail has hired former Carrefour executive Guillaume de Colonges to oversee its grocery business, in a sign he could potentially succeed Damodar Mall, the current chief executive of the company’s grocery retail division.

The move comes as the retail arm of Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) prepares for an initial public offering, likely in 2027 or 2028. The retail business is currently valued at around $100 billion, according to an October 13 report by Axis Securities.

Colonges, who formerly served as chief commercial officer at Carrefour, was hired earlier this year, according to people in the know.

Carrefour is a French retail group that operates a network of more than 14,000 multi-format stores across over 40 countries. Its formats include hypermarkets, supermarkets, convenience stores, and cash-and-carry, or wholesale, outlets. The Carrefour Group is one of the world leaders in food commerce.

Mall is a retail industry veteran. He has worked in large companies such as Hindustan Unilever and was also part of the Future Group, where he held various leadership roles including the director of food strategy. He was a core member of Future Group founder Kishore Biyani’s team.

Mall joined Reliance Retail in 2013, and currently leads the grocery business.

Colonges is being groomed for a larger role, said the people cited earlier. “He is trying to get a full understanding of the B2B (business-to-business) and consumer-facing businesses, including stores and some parts of online. The focus is to improve the overall store experience and bring in more of his international expertise to create a better offline shopping experience,” one of the persons cited earlier said.

There is no indication yet of when Mall plans to step down, this person said.

Queries sent to Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL), the parent of Reliance Retail, did not elicit a response.

The move to appoint Colonges looks like an attempt to up the game in retail, said an equity analyst speaking to Mint on the condition of anonymity.

"However, modern retail in India retail is very different versus global retail because there are many India's within India. Retail also requires very close grassroots level knowledge of consumer habits in India,” this analyst said.

Colonges has held several country CEO roles, including CEO of Carrefour Turkey, and CEO of Carrefour Malaysia and Singapore. He has over 30 years of experience in the retail industry.

Reliance Retail operates multiple business verticals led by separate CEOs, including Akhilesh Prasad (president and CEO fashion and lifestyle), Sandeep Varaganti (CEO, JioMart), and Brian Bade (Reliance Digital).

V. Subramaniam is the managing director of Reliance Retail Ltd.

Reliance Retail is the largest retailer in India, with businesses spanning consumer electronics, grocery, fashion and lifestyle, and connectivity (selling SIM cards, mobile phones, tablets etc). In FY25, its revenue from operations stood at ₹2.91 trillion. The business reported an earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization, or Ebitda, of ₹25,094 crore, up 8.6% year-on-year.

India's total retail market was estimated at $1.15 trillion in 2025, according to Deloitte. This is expected to swell to $1.8 trillion by 2030. Grocery continues to command the largest share of retail spending in the country, followed by apparel, accessories and footwear—the broader fashion segment.

It operates small-format grocery stores and supermarkets under Reliance Smart, Reliance Smart Bazaar (including stores acquired from the Future Group), Fresh Signature, Freshpik, and Metro Cash & Carry, along with JioMart, its online grocery platform.

RIL does not give a break-up of its store count, but operates close to 5,000 outlets under the grocery category.

Some of the formats under the grocery business also sell general merchandise, apart from offering their own private labels in segments such as snacks and home care.

As of the September quarter, the company operated 19,821 stores in total.

In 2020, RIL acquired the retail, wholesale, logistics, and warehousing businesses from Kishore Biyani’s Future Group for ₹24,713 crore. This acquisition gave Reliance access to hundreds of stores across Future Group’s Big Bazaar, FBB, Easyday, Central, and Foodhall formats. It converted these into its own existing brands, while shuttering some. In 2023, it also acquired German wholesale retailer Metro Cash & Carry's India business for ₹2,850 crore.

To be sure, small kirana stores still dominate India’s grocery landscape, modern retail—where Reliance is a key player—accounts for 23.5% of the value share of packaged consumer goods across more than 50 cities as of the September quarter, according to NielsenIQ.

Reliance competes with the likes of DMart, Samara Capital-backed More Retail, Amazon, Spencer's Retail, and Lulu Hypermarket. DMart operates 415 stores, while its revenue from operations stood at ₹57,790 crore in FY25.

Reliance Retail undertook consolidation last fiscal, shutting several large-format grocery and fashion stores to pivot towards smaller formats. The company invested ₹33,696 crore in FY2024–25—up 37.5% year-on-year—towards store expansion, consumer-goods acquisitions, warehousing and retail infrastructure.

It closed last fiscal with 19,340 stores, a 2.7% increase compared to the previous year, however, total retail area declined to 77.4 million sq. ft. from 79.1 million sq. ft. due to the rationalisation of larger spaces. Having completed this consolidation phase, Reliance Retail has returned to expansion, adding 412 stores in the September quarter of the current fiscal.

In a separate October 13 note, Axis Capital said, “Retail saw a period of subdued performance in CY24, primarily due to operational rationalization undertaken by the company, which is now complete. We believe improvement in retail should act as a catalyst for the stock, given the implied low valuation. We expect core retail to grow 12% year-on-year, with FY25–28E CAGR at 13% (vs 5% year-on-year in FY25)."