Reliance Retail, British shoemaker Clarks terminate 2-yr old joint venture

The country's leading retailer Reliance Retail and British Shoe maker Clarks have terminated their two-year old joint venture, an industry source said.

Differences between both partners have emerged regarding certain terms of engagements, following which they have decided to part ways, said the source.

While an e-mail sent to Reliance Retail seeking comments remained unanswered by the time of filing of the story, Clarks Global declined to comment on the development.

"We won't be commenting on this, said the Clarks spokesperson while responding to PTI's e-mail.

The JV, Clarks Reliance Footwear Pvt Ltd operated over 30 exclusive Clarks-branded brick-and-mortar stores in New Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Lucknow, Hyderabad, and Chennai, according to the company's India website.

As the partners have drifted away, these stores are getting closed, the industry source added.

Earlier, Clarks had a partnership with Kishore Biyani-led Future Group. It had entered India with a 50:50 joint ventu