Top > Business > 2007 > May > 2007-05-19

Wal-Mart Plans Joint-Venture Launch into India

The largest retailer in the world, the U.S.-based Wal-Mart, has announced plans to expand into India by the middle of next year. Wal-Mart announced that its venture included a partnership with India?s Bharti group and that the two entities would strive to expand to over 75 Indian cities and regions with five to seven years of launching their first store. Wal-Mart?s president for emerging markets, Mr. Rahul Jain, said that an agreement should be signed within the coming weeks.

Jain and the rest of the Wal-Mart team are extremely optimistic about this new move. They are convinced that a venture such as this will bring prices of goods and foodstuffs in India down by quite a bit. For example, they foresee that they will be able to cut the prices of appliances such as televisions and refrigerators by up to 25%. Other areas that will enjoy price decreases include agricultural products (up to 15%) and electronic goods (up to 7%).

Wal-Mart?s Indian partner, the Bharti group, aims to invest over $2.5-billion in the next 12 years in the establishment of supermarkets and hypermarkets across India. The group already controls India?s top mobile phone service company, known as Bharti Airtel. Good news for local manufacturers and farmers is that Wal-Mart expects to import only 10% of its goods from the United States and other regions. The company has declared that 90% of the goods would be acquired locally in the city of the store?s location or in areas as near as possible to the store itself.