Wal-Mart, Bharti close to signing deal

Bharti Enterprises is close to signing the cash & carry (wholesale) joint-venture agreement with Wal-Mart. “We are working at the legal agreement. We hope the deal will happen in the next few weeks,” Bharti chairman Sunil Mittal told mediapersons. It is learnt that the Wal-Mart board will give approval to the Bharti deal on March 7. This could, however, not be confirmed. Mr Mittal, his brother Rajan Mittal and Wal-Mart head of international business Michael Duke met Montek Singh Ahluwalia, Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission to apprise him of the US retailer’s India plans. Asked if the Bharti-Wal-Mart cash & carry would sell products at a preferential rate to Bharti’s front-end retail business, Mr Mittal said, “There are no such plans. Cash & carry and retail are different businesses. Our wholesale venture would sell at par to all interested retailers.” Asked about the agenda of Mr Duke’s meeting with Mr Ahluwalia, Mr Mittal said, “He was here just to apprise the Planning Commission of Wal-Mart’s plans in the country.” Responding to media queries on whether Wal-Mart’s proposed plans for an entry into India had met any regulatory hurdles, Mr Mittal said, “All plans fall into the existing regulatory framework. There’s no question of a hurdle.” Meanwhile, the two companies are also in preliminary stages of discussions for technical tie-up for front-end retail. “It’s too early to comment on detailed modalities of the arrangement. We will leverage the Wal-Mart technology and best practices in our retail business.” Asked if Bharti would use the Wal-Mart name for its retail stores, Mr Mittal said, “Such a decision will be based on consumer research which we are currently conducting,” Mr Mittal said.Commerce and industry minister Kamal Nath has asked Wal-Mart to increase its procurement from India by at least 25%. Speaking to mediapersons after his meeting with Wal-Mart vice-chairman Michael Duke, Mr Nath said, “I have urged Wal-Mart to increase sourcing from India. At present, the US retailer buys $600 million worth of goods from India annually. We want it to grow by at least 25%.” Pointing out to the fact that there was a huge scope of growth in India’s sup-plies to the retail chain, the minister said that Wal-Mart’s annual procurement from China was $9 billion.
courtesy:economictimes
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