Bharti group chairman Sunil Bharti Mittal said: 'The joint venture, with equal stakes, will operate in areas where government allows foreign investment in retail, like cash-and-carry and logistics.
'The retail shops will be owned by Bharti Enterprises under the Wal-Mart franchise. The idea is to give Indians the lowest price every day.'
UK grocery giant Tesco was also in the running, but revealed on Friday it had ended negotiations with Bharti after failing to secure the deal. However, the supermarket still plans to enter India's lucrative retail market.
At present, multi-brand foreign retailers are unable to open in India without a local partner, although this is not the case for wholesalers.
The Indian retail industry is estimated at about US$300 billion (£154.93 billion) and is forecast to grow to US$427 billion (£220.54 billion) by 2010 and US$637 billion (£328.98 billion) in 2015, according to consultancy Technopak Advisors.
At present, organised retail only makes up 3 per cent of the Indian market, compared with 20 per cent of China's market and 40 per cent of Thailand's.
Bharti has a joint venture with the El Rothschild group for FieldFresh, which supplies fresh produce to overseas retailers. Wal-Mart has a liaison office in India and expects to step up its sourcing of items - such as apparel, textiles and shoes - from India, which totalled more than£1.6 billion this year.
No comments yet