US grocery giant Supervalu sets up Bangalore operations

Supervalu Inc, a large US-based grocery firm, is setting up operations in Bangalore as part of its ongoing work to support its strategic initiatives. The division in India will be called Supervalu Services India (SSI).

"As a Fortune 50 company, having a multi-geographic workforce must be part of Supervalu's strategy to succeed in today's competitive marketplace," said Paul Singer, the company's chief information officer. "Our SSI office will add significant value to our business by enabling us to provide more innovative work to our internal business partners, as well as affording us the flexibility to engage in new technologies by leveraging teams across the globe."

According to the company, "the excellent talent pool available for applications development and the infrastructure Bangalore provided have been the key drivers for Supervalu's decision to set up operations in the state.

B V Naidu, director, Software Technology Parks of India, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh, noted that "Bangalore has always been at the forefront of technological advancements and is today the most sought after destination for Information Technology
and the retail sector in particular. We are extremely glad to have leading companies like Supervalu set up operations here. It will be our endeavour to meet the company half-way and facilitate seamless operations in the state."

By adding to the company's existing IT workforce of more than 1,800 associates, SSI will help drive efficiencies within the IT organisation. SSI associates will help in application development, technical operations, quality assurance and testing to support overall corporate IT functions including the company's retail and supply chain operations.

One of the largest companies in the US grocery channel, Supervalu has annual sales approaching $40 billion. It has about 2,500 retail grocery locations across the US, a supply chain network spread across the US, which helps it provide distribution and related logistics support services to more than 5,000 grocery endpoints across the country. Supervalu has about 200,000 employees.