In a strategic move ahead of its public listing in Indian Stock Markets sometime in 2026 or 2027, Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Retail is getting its first ever non-Indian to lead one of its retail businesses.
What’s even more intriguing is that the Carefour lifer and vereran for over 30 years in the French conglomerate is expected to lead the company’s Grocery retail vertical, which contributes over 40% of its annual revenues.
Guillaume de Colonges is the man in spotlight.
Guillaume, a French national, began his retail career at Carrefour in 1992, overseeing operational functions at France.
He later worked across the globe, including at Poland, Turkey, Belgium and Malaysia. He was the Chief Commercial Officer at a Group level until end of 2024.
It is said that he could succeed Damodar Mall, the current Chief Executive of Reliance Retail’s grocery division.
Damodar was among the first batch of CEOs to join when the eponymous Reliance Group ventured in to the organised Retail business over 18 years ago.
Late Raghu Pillai, Bijou Kurien and Akhilesh Prasad were among those who led various top roles at Reliance Retail over the years.
Reliance reported annual revenues of INR 3.30 Lakh Crores for FY 24-25 representing an 8% y-o-y growth.
This included cash-till revenues from grocery, consumer durables, fashion and lifestyle, cafes & restaurants and other formats, including fuel retail.
Reliance Retail operates over 20,000 stores across India and employs over 3 lakh people in this division which reported a PAT of INR 25,094 Cr for the FY 24-25, an 8% increase y-o-y.
Editor’s Note
It is not yet clear why would an Indian conglomerate get an expat to lead its retail business, especially in the fiercely competitive grocery vertical.
Back in 2000s, RPG Retail, India;s first organised Grocery retail chain hired Mark Webber as COO for Foodworld Supermarkets who’s tenure lasted less than 3 years.
Several other Indian businesses including Aviation and Hospitality have brought in expats with phenomenal experience but very few have survived in India.
Retailing in India is a lot more modernised today than it was 25 years ago. The third-gen at the Reliance Group is indeed on a mission to conquer a significant opportunity in the fiercely competitive grocery retail with huge investments.
However, the Indian mentality of consumers continues to be conservative!
We are, afterall filled with discerning customers who seek more discounts on a Mercedes than a Maruti, on discount sales on Gucci handbags than those sold in hypermarkets and so on.
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