Bharti-Wal Mart deal roll-out by January-end: Sunil Mittal

Mumbai, Dec 13 (UNI) Bharti Enterprises is set to roll-out the detailed plan of the most-talked about Bharti-Wal Mart deal by January-end.

Interacting with mediapersons on the sidelines of the announcement of launch of Bharti-AXA LIfe Insurance, Chairman and Group MD Sunil Mittal said here today that: ''We have already appointed 20 persons on our board and the hunt was still on to recruit more people before we actually come up with the the rollout of 'stores' that we are under the process of opening in joint partnership with Wal Mart.'' Mr Mittal hinted that his company has opened discussion with some of the big property firms in the country like Raheja group for the big-ticket leasing of space as would be required for its forthcoming retailing venture under the deal. He recently had announced the clinching of deal with Wal Mart for opening a chain of stores in the country after his talks had failed with another UK-based retail major, Tesco, for the same purpose.

All the stores being opened under the JV will be owned by Bharti Enterprises only and the Wal Mart's role would be restricted to back-end support coupled with cash&carry arrangement, Mr Mittal said adding: ''We're working very hard on the ambitious project inspite of the Christmas festivities that are round the corner''.

Asked to comment on future plans, Mr Mittal said that ''Services transformation in rural India like getting new techniques for the benefit of country's farmers are the few areas we are concentrating on for our future ventures''.

UNI SN/KKD OBB SKB1901