Asda talent has been lured away by Indian firm Reliance Retail.

Peter Bracher, Asda's director of public affairs and corporate responsibility, left last week to become special advisor for Reliance's Fresh stores. He had been at Asda for two years and had responsibility for trading law, government affairs, the environment and corporate social responsibility. In his new role he will be responsible for developing the design and rollout programme for Reliance's Fresh format.

Kevin Pleass, former UK store planning and construction director for Tesco, has joined Reliance as senior adviser on planning and development.