Walmart likely to open 10 new shops in Telangana

The world's largest retail chain, Walmart, is planning to expand its operations in India, starting Telangana. It is planning to execute its strategy in a phased manner over a period of five years. Dirk Van Bergh, a representative of Walmart South Asia and Krish Iyer, president and CEO of Walmart India, have signed an MoU with the Telangana government on Saturday. Inside sources said that one store will open at a time in a space of 50,000 square feet. These would serve at least 3 lakh customers at a single time. They also said that all the stores would be running on 'Cash and Carry' basis, which is a wholesale model. 

They said, "We shall start one store now, and very soon we shall be operating two more stores here. We are also concentrating on sub-urban and rural areas and will be focusing on Nizamabad, Karimnagar and Khammam districts. Presently, we have 21 stores in India, and are planning to set up 50 stores across the country in the coming five years. Based on the GDP growth in Telangana, we shall plan more stores."

Meanwhile, K.T Rama Rao said, "Each Walmart store will generate 2,000 jobs. The government will provide all required facilities to Walmart in obtaining approvals. The retail policy of Telangana State, that’s now being framed, will assist such retail stores. Walmart will utilise services of self-help groups and small and medium farmers." The Walmart officials were also inducted about the operations of SHGs and Stree Nidhi Banks. Principal secretary to the information technology department- Jayesh Ranjan also participated in the discussions.  

Walmart is a popular American multinational retailing chain that functions as hypermarkets, grocery store and discount departmental stores. It is aggressively strategising to expand its operations in India because of its potential as a prospective in consumer good market.

In fact, last year, Walmart Stores posted a 7% rise in the revenue in India. While sales grew 34%, the company grew 7% on annualised basis. Inside sources said that this helped the company in coping up with its losses that went down from Rs 232.2 crore to Rs 140.4 crore in the same period. Currently, Walmart has its presence in Lucknow, Meerut, Agra, Kota, Bhopal, Indore, Raipur, Amravati, Aurangabad, Hyderabad, Vijayawada, Guntur, and Rajahmundry. 

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