Kolkata, Jan 11 (IANS) Reliance Retail’s fashion apparel arm Reliance Trends is planning to have more than 100 stores in the country by the end of this fiscal, a company executive said Wednesday.

“Presently, 75 stores are operational in the country. By the end of this financial year, there will be more than 100 stores,” Reliance Trends Ltd senior vice president and head, national operations, Akhilesh Prasad told reporters on the sidelines of a retail summit here.

Prasad said the company was also planning to open several stores in the eastern region.

“We will open several stores in the east. This year, we opened 11 and by the end of the next financial year, there will be 25 stores in the region,” he said.

He said the apparel related accessories will remain to be in the company’s periphery.

On the company’s plan for going for franchise model, Prasad said: “We are experimenting. We have planned for starting some franchises. We have already done one or two pilot projects on this.”

“There are a large number of people who have applied (for franchise) to us. We are taking our learnings… perfecting our models,” he said.

Asked when the company will roll out the franchise model on commercial basis, he said: “It is possible in the next fiscal. But it will depend on how the first few stores shore up.”