Around 20 people have been arrested after protests greeted the opening of Spencer’s Retail’s first hypermarket in the Indian state of Kerala.

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Protests marred the opening in the city of Khozikode on Friday (14 December) leading Spencer’s, India’s largest supermarket chain, to insist it is not a threat to smaller traders.


“Spencer’s has been operating in Kerala for the last 80 years and have never been a problem to small-scale retail. We will not undercut them now,” senior vice president, operations Rumesh Menonn told just-food.


Spencer’s, which runs 350 outlets under five different formats throughout India, has plans for two more hypermarkets and 20 more of its Spencer’s Daily outlets in Kerala.


Protests have been a feature of India’s fast-growing organised retail sector. Smaller, more traditional retailers fear the growth of Western-style retailers and have held fierce protests against expansion from the like of Reliance Retail.

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