Reliance Likely To Come Up With Retail University By ''08-09

Mukesh Ambani-promoted Reliance Retail is planning to set up a retail university by 2008-09 and is in talks with learning partners across the country. The company is in the process of developing tie-ups with various partners for developing retail curriculum that suit the requirements of the industry.

Earlier this May, rival Bharti Enterprise announced a tie-up with Global Retail School (GRS) to impart training in the retail sector. Reliance and Bharti are also competing with each other in the retail sector and are investing billions of dollars to expand their business. According to industry estimates, the Indian retail sector would offer around 2.5 lakh jobs in the next two years with 75 per cent of them being customer facing. The Bharti-GRS joint venture plans to set up 60 centres across the country, including smaller towns and cities this year. Bharti is a technical partner in the joint venture, which would provide content and curriculum support for the courses and hire the skilled personnel.