World's second-largest retail chain Carrefour on Thursday announced the opening of its first ‘cash-and-carry' outlet in India. The outlet is located in Delhi.
“The opening of this first store marks Carrefour's entry into the Indian market and will be followed shortly by the opening of other cash-and-carry stores,” Carrefour CEO, Lars Olofsson said in a statement here.
Carrefour has made its intent to enter the multi-brand retail segment in the country and is understood to be at an advanced stage of talks with home-grown retail giant, Future Group.
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However, the existing foreign direct investment (FDI) policy do not permit multi-brand retailing as there is a fear that it would lead to wiping out of kirana outlets.
Partnership
It is understood that the two companies could sign a deal as early as next year for a partnership in India.
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Mr. Olafsson said opening of the first store was essential to allow Carrefour's teams to fully understand the modalities of doing business in the Indian market before building the company's presence in other formats.
The new store — Carrefour Wholesale Cash&Carry — is located in the Parsavnath Metro Mall in Seelampur area of Delhi spread across 5,200 sq. m. and will house over 10,000 stock-keeping units to cater to professional businesses, institutions, restaurants and local retailers.
India at present allows 51 per cent FDI in single-brand retail and 100 per cent in the cash-and-carry segment, but no such thing is allowed in the multi-brand retail.
The world's largest retailer, Wal-Mart, announced a joint venture with Bharti Enterprises in 2007 and operates four such stores in Amritsar, Zirakpur, Jalandhar and Kota. German company Metro made an entry into the Indian market even earlier, in 2003. It currently operates six cash-and-carry stores in Hyderabad, Bangalore, Mumbai and Koltata.