Bharti to sign JV with Wal-Mart by March

New Delhi, Feb 23 (UNI) Bharti Enterprises today said the world's largest retailer Wal-Mart is set to make its official entry into the 300-billion-dollar Indian retail market with its cash-and-carry and logistics joint venture with Bharti to be finalised by March.

''The discussions are at the final stage..the joint venture agreement will be signed in the coming weeks...around March,'' Bharti Enterprises Chief Sunil Mittal told reporters adding that the legal agreement of the proposed cash-and-carry alliance was being looked into.

Asked about any regulatory hurdles to the venture, Mr Mittal denied any such opposition, after meeting Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia along with visiting Wal-Mart Vice Chairman Mike Duke.

Executives from Wal-Mart are in India, amid protests from trade unions and small shop owners, to observe existing retail formats for the first time after the two companies announced the JV in November last.

Talking about establishing a retail supply chain with Wal- Mart to build linkages with farmers and suppliers in India, Mr Mittal said: ''The Bharti-Wal-Mart JV is meant to support the entire kirana (neighbourhood) stores. The agreement exists where the policy is.'' Mr Mittal also hinted that his 100 per cent subsidiary Bharti Retail's investment can go up from the 2.5 billion dollars announced earlier this week if the company buys land for the proposed retail chain.

''The 2.5 billion dollars by 2015 will be used only for setting up the stores. The investment can go up if we buy real estate,'' he said.

A spokesperson for Wal-Mart had said yesterday that the US-based retailer was looking forward ''to partner with Bharti to build backward linkages with farmers and suppliers through a robust and efficient supply chain''.

However, the Wal-Mart Vice Chairman gave no comments today after his meeting with the Planning Commission Deputy Chairman.

Separately, in line with existing guidelines, Bharti Retail has approached Wal-Mart for ''critical'' technology support in the areas of logistics, supply chain and back-end technology, the Wal-Mart spokesperson stated saying that no specific business announcement would be made from the retail giant.

The Wal-Mart team will meet Union Minister for Agriculture Sharad Pawar and Commerce and Industry Minister here later in the day.

UNI