New Delhi: Reliance Retail plans to aggressively expand its online operations in the current financial year, develop dark stores, omnichannel platforms and fast commerce unit JioMart, its chief financial officer Dinesh Taluja said in an earnings call.
Offering a three-year roadmap, Taluja said Reliance Retail, the country’s largest retailer, will invest in infrastructure and also focus on improving operational performance in terms of availability, speed and reliability.
Taluja said the company evaluates each market from a unit economics perspective and directs investments accordingly with the goal of achieving a “clear path to positive unit economics” in each market.
“Whenever they don’t make sense, we will cut them,” Taluja said, adding that the scale created this year is expected to lead to higher profits and cash generation over the next two years as customer acquisition, repeat purchases and basket size growth drive the business.
The company had a three-year goal of doubling operating EBITDA.
The CFO said the company will also rely on a richer product portfolio, growing share of its own brands, and higher monetization and market revenue to improve profitability over the medium term.
Describing the current financial period as a groundbreaking phase, Taluja said the company will pursue growth in a “disciplined manner” by tracking metrics such as order density per dark store, repetition rate, fulfillment cost and contribution margin against certain internal targets.
He outlined four key areas the company is focusing on this year: quality and customer engagement (including repeat rate, order frequency and NPS), commercial efficiency (basket size, product mix, own brand contribution and gross margin), operational excellence (availability, on-time fulfillment, order value and returns) and financial discipline (contribution margin, working capital and EBITDA).
Taluja said online retail growth this year will be “measured” and financed from the company’s existing profits, even as absolute revenue figures continue to rise.
He added that improvements in density, business structure, productivity, inventory turnover and monetization are expected to lead to improved return on equity and accelerated EBITDA and cash generation in the coming years.
Reliance Retail is the largest fast commerce player in the country through its digital retail arm JioMart and has a wide geographical reach.
JioMart operates a hybrid model of over 3,100 physical stores and over 600 dark stores to serve over 1,200 cities and cover 5,100 pin codes. PTI
- Published Jul 18, 2026 08:18 IST
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