Amazon and Samara Capital-backed More will nearly double its store network in Bengal, which has turned out to be the fastest growing market for the supermarket chain as it looks for a profitable growth fuelled by a fresh injection of cash from promoters and an impending primary sale of share by IPO.

The company, which also serves customers of ‘Amazon Fresh’ from its supermarkets, is going to add 90 stores in Bengal by FY27, up from 109 at present. Amazon Fresh is an online grocery and food platform of e-retailer Amazon.

More, which was acquired from the Aditya Birla group in 2019, is focused on the five southern states, Bengal, Punjab and Haryana where it had 775 stores at the end of March 31. The store count will go up to 1013 by the end of FY2026 and by another 250 by 2027. As part of the expansion, the company will also enter the eastern states of Odisha and Jharkhand.

The management believes that it has finally got the model right, which led to the narrowing of EBIDTA loss in FY25 to ₹65 crore. It hopes to make a positive EBIDTA of ₹60 crore in FY26 and PAT positive in two years.

While the expansion in FY26 is being funded by contributions of ₹150 crore from Samara and Amazon, the growth through the decade will be supported by an initial public offer.

More plans to raise about ₹2,000 crore in the next 12-18 months by primary share of sale, with an equity dilution of 10 per cent. “We want to raise enough money to have the ability to expand over the next five years. By 2030, we want to be a 3,000-store network.” Vinod Nambiar, managing director of More Retail Private Ltd, said in Calcutta on Monday.

Samara holds 51 per cent in More, while Amazon has a 48 per cent stake. The remaining 1 per cent is held by HNIs and family offices. None of the promoters are unlikely to offer any share for sale in the IPO. The funds would also be used to reduce the debt-burden to the extent possible. Currently, it has ₹500 crore debt on the books in a mix of term loan and NCDs (non-convertible debentures). More intends to reduce debt by about half from now to hitting the market.

Nambiar said the shareholders remained extremely positive about the business and they ploughed in ₹900 crore mainly to fund losses since the acquisition from Birla. Of this, about ₹150 crore was from the HNIs and family offices.

More Retail clocked in gross sales of ₹4,985 crore, including ₹1,045 crore from online, 95 per cent of which was from Amazon Fresh. In FY26, More is eyeing a ₹ 6,000 crore sales and ₹7,500-8,000 crore in the year after.

A big part of More’s growth will also come from Amazon Fresh which will make the supermarkets hybrid, catering to customers walking in and orders placed online on Amazon Fresh platform. As of now 280 supermarkets are doubling as hybrids, which would go up to 600 by FY26.

Nambiar felt competitive intensity in Bengal lower than some of the other states while there is a lot of headroom for growth both offline and online.