Reliance’s Retail Bloodbath: The Faces Behind the Failures

Reliance is not supposed to fail.

At least, that’s the myth. The truth is far uglier. Behind the curtain of billion-rupee acquisitions, glossy PR campaigns, and the “Mukesh Ambani can do no wrong” narrative lies a trail of collapsing ventures, bleeding brands, and a leadership culture that refuses to learn.

The problem isn’t just that Reliance is losing money. It’s that the same people keep making the same mistakes — and no one in the room dares to hold them accountable.

1. Dunzo – The ₹1,645 Crore Bonfire

Reliance didn’t just invest in Dunzo — it bet the farm on it, securing a massive 26% stake and positioning it as the future of Reliance’s quick-commerce game. The pitch was simple: take on Blinkit, Swiggy Instamart, and Zepto with a mix of Dunzo’s tech and Reliance’s muscle.

What happened?
A cash burn of over ₹1,800 crore in a single year. Orders costing more to deliver than they earned. Salaries delayed. Vendors unpaid. The app and website eventually went dark. And finally, Reliance wrote off its entire ₹1,645 crore stake to zero.

Who was steering this disaster?

• Mukesh Ambani – for signing off on a high-risk gamble without demanding a grounded, sustainable growth plan.
• Reliance Retail Board Members – for exercising veto powers that reportedly slowed decision-making and crippled Dunzo’s independence.
• Top Retail Executives – for assuming “deep pockets” could outlast market realities.

2. Luxury Retail – The Bleed After the Mehta Era

For years, Reliance’s luxury retail empire — led by Darshan Mehta — was its crown jewel, bringing in premium brands like Bottega Veneta, Tiffany & Co., Jimmy Choo, and Pret A Manger. Mehta built it from the ground up, making Reliance a gatekeeper in India’s luxury space.

But when Mehta moved into a non-operational, mentorship role, the empire began to lose steam. Growth slowed to single digits, costs ballooned, and the luxury division slipped into losses. The market changed — discretionary spending dipped, consumer priorities shifted — and the new leadership didn’t adapt fast enough.

Who owns this mess now?

• Post-Mehta Leadership Team – including senior executives like Vikas Tandon, Dinesh Taluja, Prateek Mathur, and Sumeet Yadav, who inherited the empire but failed to defend its profitability.
• Reliance Retail Strategy Heads – for not preparing a succession plan to protect a business so dependent on one man’s vision.

3. Hamleys – A Toy Story Without Profits

When Reliance bought Hamleys for £67 million in 2019, it was meant to be a retail experience revolution. Malls would become playgrounds of premium toys, with Hamleys leading the charge.

Reality check: India’s toy market is brutally price-sensitive. Local unorganised sellers and online marketplaces offer cheaper alternatives. Hamleys became more of a showroom than a sales machine. Expensive to run, limited in reach, and irrelevant outside premium malls.

Strategic failure point:
The executives who pushed for this acquisition confused nostalgia and brand charm with actual consumer buying power. They underestimated how quickly families would choose cheaper toys over a premium store experience.

4. Shein’s Silent Fizzle

Reliance’s move to bring back Shein — banned in India for two years — looked clever on paper. It would tap into fast fashion’s cult following and dominate a high-volume segment. But it ignored three big realities:

1. Rising anti-China sentiment.
2. Growing awareness of fast fashion’s environmental harm.
3. The rise of competitive, affordable Indian brands.

The relaunch got headlines, but the excitement didn’t translate into long-term sales. The buzz died, leaving Shein’s India story flatlined.

Who’s on the hook?
The retail fashion strategy team, for betting on a brand without fully understanding the political, cultural, and ethical headwinds it faced.

5. The 2,100+ Store Closures

In FY25, Reliance shut down over 2,100 retail stores across grocery, fashion, and specialty formats. Officially, it was called “rationalisation.” In reality, it was a corporate retreat on a massive scale.

These closures weren’t just about trimming fat — they were admissions that many formats had failed outright. Poor location choices, overexpansion, and flawed market assumptions were to blame.

Who’s accountable?
The expansion and retail strategy divisions that greenlit rapid rollouts without sustainable models — and then abandoned ship when the bills came due.

6. Media Arm – Network18’s Profitability Problem

Reliance’s sprawling media empire, Network18 (which runs News18, CNBC-TV18, Colors, Firstpost, and more), remains a trophy asset but not a profit machine. It survives on influence and strategic value rather than financial performance. Digital transformation lags behind more agile rivals, and ad revenue is under constant pressure.

Leadership at fault:
The top media executives who failed to pivot to sustainable digital-first models, continuing to depend on legacy broadcasting economics in a streaming-dominated world.

The Pattern No One Wants to Admit

Every one of these failures — Dunzo, luxury retail slowdown, Hamleys’ stagnation, Shein’s misfire, mass store closures, Network18’s struggles — follows the same playbook:

1. Ego-driven decision-making – betting on size and brand power instead of market adaptability.
2. No culture of post-mortems – mistakes are buried, not studied.
3. Overconfidence – assuming cash can bulldoze over operational flaws.
4. Boardroom echo chambers – where dissent is silenced, and “yes-men” thrive.

The Faces in the Frame

• Mukesh Ambani – Visionary at scale, but guilty of signing off on high-risk plays without demanding operational discipline.
• Reliance Retail Board Members – for allowing repeated strategic blunders without public accountability.
• Post-Mehta Luxury Retail Leadership – for failing to adapt in a changing market.
• Fashion & Expansion Strategy Teams – for Shein’s flop and unprofitable retail rollouts.
• Media Division Chiefs – for keeping Network18 stuck in old models while the world moved on.

The Final Warning

Reliance’s size has shielded it from the kind of market punishment that would cripple smaller players. But shields crack. When too many divisions bleed at once, even giants stumble.

If the leadership doesn’t dismantle its echo chambers, embrace brutal self-assessment, and put competent operators — not just loyalists — in charge, the empire’s foundations will keep eroding.

Reliance isn’t failing because the competition is stronger. It’s failing because its leadership thinks they cannot fail. And in business, that’s the most dangerous illusion of all.

Comments

comments