Global retail giant Walmart has registered a new company in India as it prepares to enter the country’s lucrative multi-brand retail market with a new partner.
The American retail major and Bharti Enterprises decided to part ways in October last year, bringing an end to their six-year-long partnership.
The new company, registered on January 15, is called ‘Wal-Mart India Private Ltd’, according to the information available with the ministry of corporate affairs.
After parting ways with Bharti Group in October last year, Walmart had said it was studying the feasibility of India’s FDI policy in multi-brand retail before finalizing plans to enter the segment.
In December 2013, Walmart received the green signal from the Competition Commission of India (CCI) to purchase Bharti Group’s almost 50% stake in their Indian joint venture for wholesale stores business. The JV — Bharti Wal-Mart — was set up to operate wholesale stores under the Best Price Modern Wholesale brand. It was not catering directly to retail consumers in the country.
Walmart has been lobbying with US lawmakers since 2008 for facilitating its entry into the Indian market, according to lobbying disclosure reports filed by the company in the US.
A probe ordered by the Indian government in December 2012 into Walmart’s lobbying activities remained inconclusive. The one-man inquiry panel, in its report tabled in the Rajya Sabha last month, could not “conclude in the absence of any material evidence available on record up till now, that Walmart indulged in any lobbying/bribery to Indian officials”.
The American retail major and Bharti Enterprises decided to part ways in October last year, bringing an end to their six-year-long partnership.
The new company, registered on January 15, is called ‘Wal-Mart India Private Ltd’, according to the information available with the ministry of corporate affairs.
After parting ways with Bharti Group in October last year, Walmart had said it was studying the feasibility of India’s FDI policy in multi-brand retail before finalizing plans to enter the segment.
In December 2013, Walmart received the green signal from the Competition Commission of India (CCI) to purchase Bharti Group’s almost 50% stake in their Indian joint venture for wholesale stores business. The JV — Bharti Wal-Mart — was set up to operate wholesale stores under the Best Price Modern Wholesale brand. It was not catering directly to retail consumers in the country.
Walmart has been lobbying with US lawmakers since 2008 for facilitating its entry into the Indian market, according to lobbying disclosure reports filed by the company in the US.
A probe ordered by the Indian government in December 2012 into Walmart’s lobbying activities remained inconclusive. The one-man inquiry panel, in its report tabled in the Rajya Sabha last month, could not “conclude in the absence of any material evidence available on record up till now, that Walmart indulged in any lobbying/bribery to Indian officials”.
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