Giants eye India

Retail giants Tesco, Walmart, and Amazon.Com are making significant moves to enter the booming Indian retail market this year.

British supermarket chain, Tesco, well known for its successful QR code marketing in nearby South Korea, is in talks with a local conglomerate to enter India.

According to local English-language daily, The Hindu, Tesco and Tata Group are likely to debut in Bangalore and the booming business hub, Mumbai, this year.

The newspaper is also reporting that Tesco is setting up a subsidiary to buy fresh and processed foods from India, which would cement its ties with the country.

The supermarket chain is the third-largest retailer in the world after Wal-Mart and Carrefour in terms of gross revenue.

The news comes as US retail power, Walmart, firms up its plans for the country following changes to Indian retail law restrictive to international expansions.  

In 2007 the warehouse-format chain partnered with Indian group Bharti Enterprises for a wholesale deal, but it had to wait for legislative changes to bring the real deal to consumers.

After much lobbying by brands like Walmat, the Indian parliament last December voted to allow foreign companies to invest in the country’s multi-brand retail sector.

There has now been a huge rush by retailers to capitalise on the relatively untapped and growing middle-class wealth of some 1.2 billion Indians: the world’s second-largest market after China. 

Amazon.com, the worlds largest online retailer, is now lobbying for further changes to the country’s retail laws that could allow it to enter.

Last year’s revised foreign direct investment policy blocked foreign interests in e-commerce, however, allowed 51 per cent in multi-brand and 100 per cent in single-brand.

Amazon has already half-debuted in the market by partnering with local operator, Junglee.com.

In 2011 alone Indian investors sunk $450 milion into Indian e-commerce, with local names like Flipkart, Myntra, and eBay prominent.

Fast fashion chains H&M and Topshop have also been making moves into the country, with reports the former is blocking space in malls.

British billionaire retailer Sir Philip Green’s Topshop empire is also planning to enter India through a local joint venture.

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