Bharti Wal-Mart plans 10 stores in '11

Bharti Wal-Mart, a joint venture between Bharti Enterprises and

the US-based retail giant Wal-Mart, plans to open around 10 new cash-and-carry retail stores in 2011. The company aims at adding the same number of stores next year also. It’s looking at expansion mostly in Southern and Western parts of the country. It opened its sixth store in Ludhiana recently. The chief executive and M D Raj Jain says they are targeting the middle-class in Tier-II and Tier-III cities. The joint venture operates wholesale cash-and-carry stores in India under the Best Price Modern Wholesale brand. Believing the market in India is ready for modern retail and wholesale, it has set up supply chains for its operations in India and is expanding aggressively. The immediate focus would be scaling up operations before aiming for profitability.

Bharti Wal-Mart’s focus in India right now is to add scale. The Group’s philosophy is: profitability will not come in the short term, but in the medium-to-long term. Besides, Bharti Wal-Mart and Bharti Retail have also announced the launch of MoneyGram International, a global money transfer service in their respective stores across India in association with Thomas Cook India, the principal agent of MoneyGram International. Bharti Wal-Mart launched its first Best Price Modern Wholesale cash-and-carry store in Amritsar in May 2009. A cash-and-carry store is spread across 50,000 and 100,000 sq. ft. At present, Best Price Modern Wholesale stores are located in Amritsar, Zirakpur, Jalandhar, Kota, Bhopal and Ludhiana.