UAE-based retail major Lulu group on Monday announced an investment of Rs 3,500 crore in Tamil Nadu to set up shopping malls, hypermarkets and a food-logistic park.
A memorandum of understanding (MoU) to this effect was signed by Pooja Kulkarni, Managing Director and CEO of Tamil Nadu Industrial Guidance & Export Promotion Bureau and Ashraf Ali MA, Executive Director of Lulu Group, the company said in a statement.
The MoU was signed in the presence of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin; Industry Minister Thangam Thenarasu; Yusuffali MA, Chairman of Lulu Group; other officials and dignitaries at the Abu Dhabi Chamber of Commerce HO in Abu Dhabi.
As per the MoU, the first shopping mall will come up in Chennai by 2024, while the first hypermarket is expected to open by this year-end itself at the Laxmi Mills compound in Coimbatore.
Lulu Group will also set up food processing and logistics centres for procuring and processing agri-produce for exports to Middle Eastern countries. A high-level delegation from Lulu will soon visit the state to finalise locations and related formalities.
"State of Tamil Nadu provides excellent infrastructure and support to the investors and we are very happy to explore bigger investment opportunities not only in Chennai but also in tier two cities such as Coimbatore, Salem, Madurai, Trichy.
"Our aim is to provide more than 15,000 direct and indirect job opportunities to Tamil youth in the next 3 years," Yusuff Ali said.
Lulu Group currently operates more than 225 hypermarkets and shopping malls in the Middle East, Egypt, Indonesia, Malaysia and India. The group employs more than 57,000 people globally. Lulu Group has announced an investment of Rs 2,000 crore near Ahmedabad to set up a modern shopping mall.
It has committed an investment of Rs 500 crore to set up a food processing plant in Greater Noida, Uttar Pradesh. In India, Lulu Group already has four operational shopping malls in Kochi, Thrissur, Trivandrum and Bengaluru.
The mall at Bengaluru is not owned by the Lulu group but it is managing and operating the property. The group's business portfolio ranges from hypermarket operations to shopping mall development, manufacturing and trading of goods, food processing plants, wholesale distribution, hospitality assets and real estate development.
