Future Retail suspends supermarket operations

Big change: A woman shopping in the Big Bazaar retail store in Mumbai, India. Reliance will rebrand the Future stores after the company missed lease payments. — Reuters

NEW DELHI: Future Retail Ltd, India’s second-largest retailer, suspended most of its online and offline operations as stores remained shut, after rival Reliance bid to take over its flagship supermarkets for missed lease payments.

Reliance Industries Ltd will rebrand the Future stores after the company failed to make payments for them to Reliance, sources told Reuters on Saturday, closing most outlets of the popular Big Bazaar chain.