Mumbai, April 4: Hindustan Lever Ltd (HLL) is selling Sangam, its non-store home delivery retail business, to Wadhawan Food Retail Pvt Ltd.

The business was managed by Unilever India Exports Limited, a 100 per cent subsidiary of HLL.

HLL today said the sale would be effective from March 31, 2007.

The Sangam business, which was conceptualised in 2001, focused on the direct-to-consumer channel and operated though a dedicated call centre with trained personnel for order procurement and a network of re-distribution centres.

It was test marketed in Mumbai under the brand Sangam Direct. Apart from catering to the monthly grocery needs through a dial-in facility, the scheme also offered discounts on a wide range of products.

The FMCG company said the decision for a larger rollout of Sangam was put on hold in the context of the changing retail scenario in the country.

“Although Project Sangam has met many of its business milestones successfully, Hindustan Lever believes that it is not in its strategic interest to continue to be present in this format of organised retail,” the company added.

HLL also said the turnover and transaction value is not of material value to the company.

Wadhawan Food is present in Mumbai through its retail food and grocery store called Spinach, which has about 23 outlets in the city.

The Wadhawan group has diversified business interests. Dewan Housing and Finance Ltd (DHFL), a private sector housing finance company, also belong to the group.

Reports on the sale of Sangam have been doing the rounds over the past couple of months.

It was believed that apart from Wadhawan Food, other organised retail players, such as Subhiksha, RPG Retail and even Reliance Retail, had shown interest in the non-store retail business.