Reliance Retail plans pharmacy chain

The Economic Times reports that Reliance Retail’s plan includes opening a network of 4,000 pharmacies in India in the next 3-4 years, starting from January 2007. A large percentage of these pharmacies will be located in rural areas, and will cover the entire range of activities from blood tests, medical insurance, consultancy and of course the retail of medicines. The company has already started hiring pathologists, doctors and managers to run these outlets. Most of the pharma outlets would be set up next to Reliance stores.