AMNS India expands domestic retail network

AM/NS India is relaunching and expanding Hypermart, its national retail network that serves India’s Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise (MSME) segment. The firm expects to have 50 outlets by year-end and raise Hypermart’s share in revenue to 30% from the current 20%.

Hypermart sells to customers in areas such as fabrication, engineering goods and auto components, and gives them direct access to products they are unable to source directly from steel mills, AMNS India says.

“MSMEs are the growth engines of the Indian economy and we are confident that if quality steel is more widely and readily available, then its multiplier effects will drive consumption and growth for the nation,” Alain Legrix, Vice President and Director-Marketing, AM/NS India, says in a note sent to Kallanish.

As MSMEs continue to grow, easy availability of raw materials such as steel will strengthen demand and sustain growth as the Indian economy revives from the pandemic, the steelmaker observes.

AMNS India said in late July it was ramping up capacity utilisation as Covid-19-related lockdowns in India were lifting. The firm was hit by pandemic measures, especially in April, with crude steel output falling -29% on-quarter in the second quarter to 1.2 million tonnes.