Tata Sons to invest Rs 750 crore for expansion of Croma stores

Tata Group's Infiniti Retail, which owns and runs the Croma electronics retail chain, plans to raise Rs 750 crore from the holding company - Tata Sons - over the next two years to finance its expansion plans.

In a bid to raise funds, Infiniti Retail last month increased its authorised share capital to Rs 2,000 crore from Rs 1,000 crore to issue fresh equity to the parent company, its regulatory disclosures showed.

In a filing to the Registrar of Companies (RoC), the retailer said it has planned to set up multiple stores across India with significant investment in ecommerce and digital solutions to boost consumer experience and operating efficiency, reported the Economic Times.

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During the last fiscal, 22 new Croma stores were launched, taking the total number of outlets to 130, which were the highest in any financial year, the company reportedly said.  It is the second-largest consumer electronics retailer after Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Digital.

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For the financial year 2018-19, Infiniti Retail reported a sharp rise in its net profit at Rs 196.85 crore compared to profit of Rs 16.64 crore in the fiscal before, as per filings made with the Registrar of Companies (RoC). The company had turned profitable after 12 years in 2017-18.  The company's revenue from operations surged 22 per cent year-on-year to Rs 4,587.71 crore in 2018-19.

Edited by Chitranjan Kumar