News: 'Agreement with Wal-Mart in coming weeks'

(PTI 23/02/2007) New Delhi - Bharti Enterprises, which is on the threshold of India's booming retail sector, today said the company was weeks away from signing a joint venture agreement with Wal-Mart for cash-and-carry and back-end linkages.

"The JV on retail has been finalised and legal agreements are being worked out," Bharti Enterprises Chairman Sunil Bharti Mittal told reporters here after meeting Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia, along with visiting Wal-Mart Vice Chairman Mike Duke.

Bharti, which had earlier this week announced an investment of $ 2.5 billion in the front-end of retail operations, said the JV would also look at supporting the 'kirana' (neighbourhood grocery) chain.

"Bharti Retail will not get a preferential treatment from the JV, as it will supply to the kirana stores also," he said when asked if the agreement with Wal-Mart was exclusive.

On whether Wal-Mart saw any hurdles in the backdrop of Congress President Sonia Gandhi's letter to the Prime Minister advising caution in allowing entry to the US retailer into India, Mittal said: "Wal-Mart is going to apply for a JV, only in the area where policy exists".

The entry of Wal-Mart, whose revenue of about $ 320 billion is bigger than the size of India's retail market ($300 billion), is viewed by some as a threat to the about 13 million mom and pop stores in the country.

But the US retailer would be investing only in cash-and- carry business, where 100 per cent foreign direct investment is already allowed.