Raghavendra Verma, just-food.com New Delhi, October 11, 2013 Wal-Mart's decision to terminate its Indian joint venture with the Bharti Enterprises was not unexpected. "The joint venture was like trying to run a three legged race with one leg of each partner tied together," Arvind Singhal, chairman at Technopak Advisors, tells just-food. The two companies operated stores in India under the Best Price Modern Wholesale and Easyday banners. Wal-Mart will now take full ownership of the wholesale business, the US retail giant announced on Wednesday (9 October). For its part, Bharti will operate the consumer facing Easyday retail stores across all…
Farah Bookwala, Moneycontrol/CNBC TV18 Mumbai, October 11, 2013 McCafé is the coffee-house chain owned by McDonald’s Corporation. It has a worldwide presence. Hardcastle Restaurants, the master franchisee of Mcdonald’s in Western and Southern India, will open the first McCafé outlet in India in Mumbai on Monday at SOBO Central Mall. Hardcastle Restaurants is a 100% subsidiary of Westlife Development Ltd, a company listed on the BSE. Hardcastle Restaurants plans to set up around 100-150 McCafé restaurants over the next 3-5 years in metro cities of west and south India. For Hardcastle Restaurants, McCafé represents a host of opportunities. Incremental revenues,…
Rasul Bailay, The Economic Times New Delhi, October 10, 2013 Wal-Mart Stores, after its break-up with Bharti Enterprises, does not have any immediate plan to get into retailing in the country, making India the only market where the world's largest retailer will limit itself to the wholesale space. Why? Walmart officials in India say the company has found a winning formula in the Best Price Modern Wholesale chain. They even say that the Bentonville, Arkansas-based giant is so bullish on the format that it plans to export the formula to other emerging countries in Africa and Asia. Analysts say focusing…
Vishal Krishna, Businessworld Bangalore, October 10, 2013 When Bharti Enterprises and Walmart signed an agreement to run a cash-and-carry venture, in 2007, it was hailed as one of the most important events in Indian business history. But, for the largest company in the world, the writing was on the wall that its Indian marriage would only work if the policies of the land allowed them to consummate 100 per cent ownership of retail operations at the earliest. Six years later, the marriage of convenience ended because of lack of clarity with India's retail policy. Second, the corruption charges levied on…
[This article appeared in Daily News & Analysis (DNA) on 10 October 2013, under the headline "Without Wal-Mart, can Bharti play it alone?"] A year ago, Wal-Mart had called Bharti its natural retail partner in India. But today the companies have jointly and publicly changed their relationship statuses to “single”, calling off the 6-year old marriage. Bharti will buy out or retire Wal-Mart’s debentures in the 200+ store Easyday retail business, while Wal-Mart in turn will acquire Bharti’s stake in the 20-outlet Bestprice cash-and-carry business. By some estimates, the split was imminent for perhaps a year or longer, as the…
Geopolitical friction has again sparked renewed concerns over inflation and rising input costs for FMCG companies as @itmeansjustice @whysnavi write. @devangshu commented.
