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Wal-Mart will open its first wholesale retail venture with Bharti Enterprises in India by next week. The joint venture entity called Bharti Wal-Mart Pvt Ltd will have its first store in Amritsar. The first cash-and-carry store will be inaugurated by the Punjab Chief Minister, Mr Parkash Singh Badal. In 2007, Wal-Mart had signed an agreement with Bharti Enterprises to launch a 50:50 joint venture for a new chain of wholesale stores in India.
According to Bharti Enterprises, the stores will be opened under the brand name of 'Best Price Modern Wholesale'. The company also informed that each store will have a size of 50,000-1 lakh square feet. It was earlier announced that about 10-15 oulets would be opened in India by 2015. The cash-and-carry store of Bharti Wal-Mart are not open to retail shoppers but will serve small shops, fruit and vegetable sellers, restaurants and other business outlets.
As per Indian foreign investment rules, no foreign direct investment is permitted in the retail sector, which is implemented to protect local retail players. This means that Wal-Mart will have to sign franchise deals with local companies to enter the Indian market. Wal-Mart's Indian venture was earlier delayed due to massive opposition from small traders.
