The Hindu Business Line : Wal-Mart-Bharti yet to set time-frame for India entry

"The work on the ground is going full steam, it's only that the paperwork which needs to go through the process, that is being followed. People here are very enthusiastic to come to India."

Mr Mike Duke

Bentonville, Arkansas, June 3

Mr Mike Duke, Vice-Chairman, Wal-Mart Stores Inc, won't say when the giant retailer will roll out its cash & carry stores in India, except to say that work with the Bharti group, its partner, is progressing on the ground.

But, Wal-Mart will look to step up sourcing from India, work on developing a supply chain and while he acknowledges that there's a groundswell of opposition to Wal-Mart's entry, Mr Duke says that the overall groundswell of support from the Government and small businesses is positive and he will count on that to take the project forward. In an interaction with India media, here to attend Wal-Mart's annual shareholder meeting, Mr Duke, along with Mr Rajan Mittal, Managing Director, Bharti Enterprises Ltd, and Mr Raj Jain, CEO, Wal-Mart, Emerging Markets, affirmed that it was with pride that he has seen the sourcing of products increasing from India.

"I believe we have $600 million through direct sourcing and about $1.5 billion of products if you add in the indirect sourcing by US companies that produce the product in India and supply to Wal-Mart. We tried to do an estimate last year about how many people who are actually working on products for Wal-Mart which they can ship to us all over the world; our estimate is that there are a hundred thousand people working in factories in India on products for Wal-Mart."

Asked about the direct sourcing from China, which touches $9 billion, and if there's scope to increase from India, Mr Duke says, "China has been developed longer and infrastructure and factories coming up in China is something that the world has been involved in for a long time.

Of course, if India continues developing infrastructure and the development of how the sourcing works the rate of growth of opportunities of sourcing from India will be faster."

Aware of the hackles that Wal-Mart's impending entry has raised, Mr Duke emphasises: "What I felt when I came to visit is that there's a gigantic groundswell and desire for Wal-Mart to come to India from the Government and others in business that will want to work with a company like ours and Bharti. I found tremendous positive support from small businesses who want a better supply chain — yes, there's a groundswell (of opposition) but the giant groundswell is positive."

Bharti's Mr Mittal is quick to add: "It's always the case when something new comes into the country; we've seen it in telecom, in aviation and in airports; in an economy which has just been liberalised 15 years ago it is expected but the benefits we can see only down the road, so I am hopeful that once this venture comes into bloom you will see the effects."

Repeatedly questioned on the time-frame for the project, all Mr Mittal would say is: "There will be a technology understanding which will provide the framework, knowledge and processes that is gained by the company worldwide — the idea is to pick up the best practices, pick up the science and art of retailing — consumer needs in India is something that the Bharti group will assess. The work on the ground is going full steam, it's only that the paperwork which needs to go through the process, that is being followed. People here are very enthusiastic to come to India."

Great Relationships

Responding to a query on the resentment against Wal-Mart over the past few years, Mr Duke says that the retailer has regained the number one company status by sales (Fortune 100).

"Success can breed opposition, sometimes I can't understand the opposition but our real focus is on continuing to focus on what is right, generate the opportunities for jobs, generate the right benefits for customers, take care of the communities we work in, and have great relationships with the governments and frankly the opponents will fall by the wayside... as a company culture our intention is to do what is all right at all times, we want to be the standard that other companies will look at," Mr Duke emphasises.

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Wal-Mart-Bharti yet to set time-frame for India entry