Bharti, Wal-Mart JV on track, says Sunil Mittal

Despite the retail controversy, Bharti Enterprises announced that its proposed joint venture with Wal-Mart was on track and well within the country’s regulatory framework.
“The JV on retail has been finalised and legal agreements are being worked out...We expect to sign an agreement in the coming weeks,’’ 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. Commerce minister Kamal Nath said after meeting Duke that there was no plan to allow foreign direct investment in multi-brand retailing. There would be no review of the existing FDI policy regarding wholesale cash-and-carry sectors, he added. The development comes close on the heels of UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi writing to the prime minister expressing concern about “the Wal-Mart effect’’ on domestic retailers, and the need to study the impact of transnational supermarkets on the “livelihood security’’ of small-store owners. FDI in multi-brand retail is not allowed as per government policy, but 100% overseas investment is allowed in cash-and-carry (wholesale) business. Mittal said Bharti’s JV with Wal-Mart would be for cashand-carry and back-end linkages and asserted that it was within policy guidelines. TNN
courtesy:economictimes
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