Business Daily from THE HINDU group of publications
Tuesday, Aug 07, 2007
ePaper
Business Daily from THE HINDU group of publications Tuesday, Aug 07, 2007 ePaper |
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Marketing
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Interview
Mr Raj Jain
Debdatta Das New Delhi, Aug. 6 It’s finally official. Bharti Enterprises has signed an agreement with Wal-Mart, the world’s largest retailer, for a technical collaboration for Bharti Retail and a joint venture for the cash’n carry operations. Mr Raj Jain, Wal-Mart India CEO, spoke to Business Line about the tie-up and its business plans. While cash ’n carry is an automatic route where 100 per cent FDI is allowed, why did Wal-Mart choose to collaborate with Bharti for the venture? Bharti is a very successful and big organisation in India which is very well acquainted with the consumers in the country. So there could not have been a better organisation to tie-up with. Also, it is a partnership of choice and not on compulsion. What will your sourcing policy from India be now, after the newly formed collaboration? We have been sourcing goods worth $600 million from India so far. Now with the joint venture in place we are looking at expanding that through identifying more small manufacturers who can comply with the designated quality levels. It could well run into several multiples of what we are doing currently. We have also maintained that 90 per cent of the goods for the cash ’n carry venture will be sourced from India and the remaining will be outsourced from other countries depending upon the price benefit of the products. What about private labels? Will Wal-Mart introduce some of its private labels in India? Yes, we will look at private labels. We could also bring in our labels available across the world, but they will be locally manufactured through certain identified local manufacturers. You have been facing a lot of opposition lately in the country. How do you intend to deal with that? Well, I guess most of it was because of a lack of understanding of what Wal-Mart the organisation is all about. But the perception is slowly changing. And through all the efforts we’re taking to clear our stands, we hope that people start believing in our vision. It is for the benefit of the small-scale farmers, manufacturers and also the local retailers.
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