Ghodawat Retail Aims to be India's Largest Rural Retailer, Open 3,000 Stores by FY29 -Shrenik Ghodawat

Shrenik Ghodawat, Director, Ghodawat Retail Ltd. and Managing Director, Ghodawat Consumer Ltd., Sanjay Ghodawat Group, speaks about fulfilling the aspirations of real Bharat that lives in tier 4 and beyond

- Shiv Joshi

Nestled in the small town of Jaysingpur in the Kolhapur district of Maharashtra, is the 1993-founded Sanjay Ghodawat Group, a powerful business conglomerate that employs more than 10,000 people and runs diversified businesses.

Its fast-moving consumer goods business-Ghodawat Consumer Ltd., led by Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer Shrenik Ghodawat-is the largest of its businesses with a top-line revenue of ₹1,600 crore contributing about 40%-45% to the group's revenue.

The Star Behind Star Localmarts

Shrenik Ghodawat is the Director of various business verticals of the Sanjay Ghodawat Group which clocks around ₹4,000 crore revenues a year.

With a Bachelor's degree in Business Management from the Centre for Management Studies (CMS), Bengaluru, and a Masters in International Business from United Business Institutes, Belgium. He joined the family business at the age of 19 and brought on board his unique vision, management practices, and global approach across the Group. With his charismatic and dynamic approach, he has managed to lead SGG to greater heights of success.

As the Managing Director, he spearheads overall operations and strategic functions of Ghodawat Consumer Ltd. and drives Ghodawat Retail as its Director.

The young leader has been a recipient of multiple accolades including 35 under 35' by Entrepreneur India, 'Times 40 under 40' by The Times of India, '40 Most Influential Under 40 Indians' by Asia One, and 'Food and Grocery Retail Icon of 2022' by IMAGES Group among others.

The other business, that the group is focussing on currently, is retail under Ghodawat Retail Ltd., comprising a chain of neighbourhood grocery stores named Star Localmart, which started in 2019.

The company's play for the business is to focus purely on rural markets offering a modern retail experience to customers of Bharat.