The Hindu Business Line : Carrefour defers plans to enter India

Carrefour, which runs over 9,600 stores including hypermarkets, supermarkets, discount stores and cash-and-carry trading operations across the world, is pulling back its officials who were posted in New Delhi to chart its business plans in the country.

"We have postponed our plans for India. It is an important market and we hope to revisit it at a later date. We don't want to comment further," Mr Jean Chritophe Goarin, an official who spearheaded Carrefour's retail plans, said.

Mr Goarin is expected to shift back from India by this month-end.

Informed sources said Carrefour's decision was influenced by lack of clarity and direction on foreign direct investment in various formats of trading, including retailing.

Also, the problems faced by German retailer Metro AG, which received approval to undertake cash-and-carry operations, and the South African retailer Shoprite that entered through franchisee route with Nirmal Lifestyle in Mumbai, has added confusion to the role of foreign investment in the domestic trading sector.

Carrefour, which had appointed a retail management company to study the market, also looked at the franchisee route for retailing but found out that there are too many complexities involved in setting up the shop through that channel.

"As the investment is huge, it was necessary to be in direct control of the operations," sources added.

The company's decision comes at a time when the Union Government's approval to Metro AG for 100 per cent FDI in wholesale cash-and-carry operations has come under attack from the old guard of the Indian trading sector, which accuses the German company for using cash-and-carry as a cover to indulge in direct retailing to the consumer.

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Carrefour defers plans to enter India