News: Walmart, Carrefour or Tesco? Bharti to ally one
(RTR 10/10/2006) London - Indian conglomerate Bharti Enterprises Ltd, which has held talks with the world's biggest retailers, said on Tuesday it was close to picking one for a retail joint venture.
"We are in the final stages of choosing a partner," Chairman Sunil Bharti Mittal said at a conference.
Asked whether Britain's biggest retailer, Tesco Plc, was on the shortlist, he said: "Tesco is one of them".
Bharti Enterprises has had talks with the world's two largest retailers -- U.S. Wal-Mart Stores Inc and France's Carrefour -- as well as Tesco.
Cracking the Indian market remains the holygrail for the big retailers, including Germany's Metro AG which is already active in the wholesale sector.
India's retail industry is estimated at about $300 billion and forecast to grow to $427 billion by 2010 and $637 billion by 2015.
Yet the Indian government has thus far allowed only single-brand foreign companies to own 51 percent of retail joint ventures. Companies such as Wal-Mart and Tesco that sell wide ranges of branded products are still barred at the retail level, though not at wholesale.
On Monday, the secretary general of India's chamber of commerce said Tesco should expand into cash-and-carry wholesale in order to crack the multibillion dollar Indian market.
Amit Mitra said a foothold in the wholesale sector would give Tesco an advantage when the Indian government decides to relax barriers to foreign supermarkets.
"We are in the final stages of choosing a partner," Chairman Sunil Bharti Mittal said at a conference.
Asked whether Britain's biggest retailer, Tesco Plc, was on the shortlist, he said: "Tesco is one of them".
Bharti Enterprises has had talks with the world's two largest retailers -- U.S. Wal-Mart Stores Inc and France's Carrefour -- as well as Tesco.
Cracking the Indian market remains the holygrail for the big retailers, including Germany's Metro AG which is already active in the wholesale sector.
India's retail industry is estimated at about $300 billion and forecast to grow to $427 billion by 2010 and $637 billion by 2015.
Yet the Indian government has thus far allowed only single-brand foreign companies to own 51 percent of retail joint ventures. Companies such as Wal-Mart and Tesco that sell wide ranges of branded products are still barred at the retail level, though not at wholesale.
On Monday, the secretary general of India's chamber of commerce said Tesco should expand into cash-and-carry wholesale in order to crack the multibillion dollar Indian market.
Amit Mitra said a foothold in the wholesale sector would give Tesco an advantage when the Indian government decides to relax barriers to foreign supermarkets.
posted by InCar Group Press Room at 19:09
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