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Posted: Thursday, May 21 2009. 12:10

Bharti Walmart to open Store Next week

After years of controversy and opposition from local retailers and politicians, the Bharti Wal-Mart Pvt Ltd, the joint venture between Bharti Enterprises and the US-based Wal-Mart will open its first cash-and-carry store in Amritsar next week, to be inaugurated by the Punjab Chief Minister, Mr. Parkash Singh Badal, according to sources.

The joint venture was signed in 2007. The company had earlier announced plans to open 10-15 cash-n-carry stores in the country by 2015. It also announced that these stores would be opened under the brand name of 'Best Price Modern Wholesale' with each store  having a size of 50,000-100,000 square feet. The Amritsar store will be named Best Price Modern Wholesale.

The plan is to open 10 more such outlets in India over the next two years. However, Indian consumers won’t be able to benefit directly from Wal-Mart’s everyday low prices as it will be a ‘wholesale-only’ operation that will sell mainly to vegetable vendors, hospitals, hotels and restaurants.

Wal-Mart’s Indian venture has been delayed because of fierce opposition from small traders and the Left parties. In the elections this year the results of which were declared only last week, the Congress and its allies won, while the Left suffered major losses, effectively blocking any power to influence the decision making of the new government being formed. The industry is optimistic about the opening up of multi-brand retail to foreign direct investment with the major hurdle being out of the way.

Foreign multi-brand retailers such as Metro Cash and Carry, Tesco and Marks & Spencer are currently limited to wholesale and license and franchise operations in India. These stores are eventually expected to benefit the wine sales in India. For instance the Metro store in Bangalore carries a large portfolio of wines which can be made available indirectly to the consumers. As the laws for distribution become more liberal, especially after the stable government being sworn in, this policy action is expected to be stepped up.

Meanwhile, opening India’s retail sector to giant European corporations would threaten the livelihoods of 40 million Indians, says an article in Realestators.com. Reporting on an article ‘EU and India prepare for post-election free-trade talks’ (11 May, EuropeanVoice.com), it says that it appears to favour the opening up of sensitive sectors, including retail, to foreign direct investment.

This bias even led to predicting the election results well before the last vote had been cast and announcing the pro-liberalisation agenda of the next government. India is a land of retail democracy. Its streets are markets – lively, vibrant, safe and the source of livelihood for millions. In a country with a large number of people and high levels of poverty, the existing model of retail democracy is the most appropriate in terms of economic viability and ecological sustainability, says the news item.

Opening India’s retail sector to giant European corporations such as Tesco and Carrefour would be a direct threat to 40 million people whose livelihood depends on the retail trade. The majority of India’s population – including shopkeepers, vendors, farmers, manufacturers, workers and consumers – would be losers if the retail sector were opened up to foreign direct investment.

In Europe, these corporations have become agents of destruction – of employment, of communities and of the environment says the report

       

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