 "Decision on Walmart partnership this month: Bharti")
**Johannesburg:**India’s Bharti Enterprises willtake a decision this month on the shape of its partnershipwith global retail giant Walmart, including joining hands foroperations in the country’s multi-brand segment.
The group, which has a 50:50 joint venture with Walmartfor wholesale cash and carry, is understood to be anxiousafter their partnership came to a standstill, with no newstores being opened.
“Within October, I would say, Walmart should have taken adecision of their vision for India and Bharti could have takena decision whether it matches our aspirations,” BhartiEnterprises Chairman and Group CEO Sunil Bharti Mittal said onthe sidelines of the 2nd India-Africa Business Council (IABC)meeting here.
[caption id=“attachment_1120941” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  AFP[/caption]
He said: “We are awaiting Walmart’s final response toIndian retail and then we will evaluate our options.“While Mittal didn’t elaborate on the future course ofaction, sources said the Indian partner is getting anxious asWalmart’s indecision is affecting even their cash-and-carryventure, which runs Best Price Modern Wholesale stores.
“For the last several months, nothing has happened. Nostores are being opened and it can’t be in a standstill…somedecision will have to be taken, it can’t carry on being in thespeculative phase,” a source said.
Bharti Walmart runs 20 Best Price Modern Wholesale storesin cities such as Amritsar, Jalandhar, Kota, Bhopal, Ludhiana,Raipur, Vijayawada, Agra, Meerut, Lucknow, Jammu, Guntur,Aurangabad, Amravati, Hyderabad and Rajahmundry.After the government allowed 51 percent foreign directinvestment in multi-brand retail in September last year,Walmart has sought clarity on aspects of the policy, especiallythe sourcing clause.
In July, it expressed inability to meet the normrequiring 30 percent procurement from small industries,saying it could source only about 20 percent.The government subsequently diluted the clause to allowglobal multi-brand retailers to source 30 per cent of theirproducts from small and medium enterprises only at the startof the business.
Impact Shorts
More ShortsWalmart has also been probing alleged corruptionpractices at its local arm, after which its India head RajJain and CFO Pankaj Madan quit the company.The company’s USD 100 million investment in Cedar SupportServices Ltd, a subsidiary of Bharti Ventures, is also beingprobed by the Enforcement Directorate for alleged violationof norms.
PTI
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