Abu Dhabi, Sep 19 (Emirates 247) : Lulu Group will open its first hypermarket in Indonesia’s capital city of Jakarta by this year-end as part of its five-year plan to invest $500 million in the South East Asian country. The group is also planning contract agricultural farming in Indonesia to ensure smooth supply of food stuff and agricultural products to its more than 100 outlets spread across the region and back home in India.

This was announced during the visit of Indonesian President, Joko Widodo, to Abu Dhabi. He visited Lulu Hypermarket along with a high-level delegation at Khalidiyah Mall in Abu Dhabi. "With an initial investment of $300 million in the first phase, we plan to open 15 hypermarkets by end-2017 and a central logistics and warehousing facility in Jakarta. These projects are likely to generate more than 5,000 job opportunities for Indonesians,” said Yusuf Ali MA, Managing Director, Lulu Group.

The fact that we are going to Indonesia with our halal hypermarket concept, encourages us to look for a wider market segment there, added Yusuffali. Apart Jakarta, Lulu intends opening hypermarkets in Bandung, Solo, Semarang, Surabaya and Yogyakarta. “We also plan to set up contract farming to ensure continuous supply of high quality products and to support the Indonesian agriculture sector,” he said.

Indonesian President said his visit to Lulu Hypermarket was to see Indonesian products mainly agricultural products and asked Yusuf Ali to export more products from villages and towns in Indonesia.

The Lulu chain currently operates 117 stores across the UAE, Oman, Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Egypt, and India.