Picture: REUTERS
Picture: REUTERS

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  • Companies and organisations: Walmart

WALMART’s India expansion is stalled. When India announced last September that it would allow foreign supermarket chains to take majority ownership of their Indian operations, it marked a victory for Walmart Stores, which had spearheaded efforts to open the market and said its first retail supermarket would be launched within two years.

Now, two sources within the Bentonville, Arkansas-based company’s Indian unit say it is unlikely to apply for its first retail licence before March 2015. The company has said it needs a further 12 to 18 months after winning government approval to open each shop, which means its first retail outlet in the country would open in 2016 at the earliest.

Meanwhile, Bharti Enterprises, its local partner in an existing wholesale business, was reconsidering its commitment to their joint venture given the heavy investment requirement and distant prospects for returns, four sources with direct knowledge of the matter said.

Bharti denied it was looking to withdraw from the tie-up and said it remained fully committed to the joint venture, and a Walmart spokeswoman declined to comment on what she called market speculation.

The latest developments stemmed from a continuing internal bribery probe relating to its Indian operations, still-evolving rules governing foreign participation in India’s retail sector, and national elections due by May next year that could result in the controversial retail reform being reversed — and any newly opened supermarkets being shut — the sources said.

The delay and faltering partnership mean Walmart may miss out on the "first-mover" advantage in a country considered to be the last great frontier for global retailers. If Bharti pulled out, Walmart would be forced to find a new partner from a tiny pool of large Indian retailers to meet the requirement that a local firm owns 49% of the business.

Walmart announced last month that Raj Jain, who led its India push for the past six years, had left the company.

The world’s biggest retailer named Ramnik Narsey, who recently joined the company after heading the Indian operations of Australia’s Woolworths, as interim India chief, without explaining the change. Mr Jain did not answer repeated calls to his cellphone and the company declined to make Mr Narsey available for comment.

Mr Narsey headed the consumer electronics wholesale business of Woolworths in India for 15 months, before it was sold to the Tata Group, offering little insight into what his appointment might mean for Walmart’s India rollout.

"It will take lot more than a management change to fix things," said Devangshu Dutta, who heads Bangalore-based retail consultancy Third Eyesight. "Walmart is being investigated for breaking entry rules, bribery and these are problems that are much larger than any individual or the changes he can bring about."

Walmart has said it is in compliance with India’s foreign direct investment guidelines.

The US retailer is investigating bribery allegations in its Indian operations.

With a population of 1.2-billion people and 90% of its $500bn in retail trade done at mom-and-pop shops, India is potentially lucrative for retailers such as Walmart. But no global supermarket chain has applied to enter because of regulatory uncertainty.

Walmart’s local joint venture partner Bharti, one of the few large-scale retailers in India, is getting cold feet because of the additional investment required to run retail operations. Bharti, controlled by billionaire Sunil Mittal, wanted to consolidate its balance sheet and sharpen its focus on Bharti Airtel, India’s biggest telecoms operator, which has $12bn in debt, sources said.

"The JV is under review," said a senior official at Bharti Walmart, declining to be identified. "Bharti is taking a closer look at it because it wants to move out."

With high costs and narrow margins, most big retailers in India lose money. The Bharti Walmart wholesale joint venture lost 2.77-billion rupees (R4.66bn) on sales of 18.8-billion rupees in 2011, according to the most recent regulatory filing.

"Bharti will continue to look at divestiture," said another source. "The plan is to make it a focused business rather than the hands and legs going in all directions."

There was no certainty that Bharti would leave the wholesale joint venture after the review, the sources said.

Walmart’s internal crackdown on bribe-paying has also slowed expansion plans in a country where paying bribes is seen as a standard cost of doing business, according to Indian retailers and industry officials. Reuters reported in May that retailers in India often paid so-called "speed money" to smooth the process of obtaining dozens of permits.

The US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act forbids American firms from paying bribes. Walmart launched a global review of corruption last year after a New York Times report on bribery at the company’s Mexico operations. Its lawyers flagged India among the countries with the highest corruption risk.

In November, Bharti Walmart suspended employees including the chief financial officer as part of an internal investigation into bribery allegations in India.

More than 15 attorneys from US law firm Greenberg Traurig are now working with the Indian business to help strengthen compliance, a Walmart spokeswoman said.

Walmart, which has run wholesale outlets in India since 2009, has not opened a new one since October despite its stated plans to open eight this year. It has 20 such shops in India.

Walmart said its India wholesale outlet rollout had encountered delays but did not say how many it would open this year.

"We are in the process of implementing additional controls for our new store permit and licensing programme to ensure the process is handled appropriately and in full compliance with all laws and regulations," the Walmart India spokeswoman said.

"As we develop and implement enhanced procedures for obtaining licences, there have been some delays in store openings."

At its Rajahmundry wholesale shop in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh, Walmart has not sold fresh fruit and vegetables since October, as it has been unable to acquire a licence from the state agricultural produce marketing committee, according to a company source. Officials from the committee declined to comment.

In the same state, Walmart’s wholesale shop in Hyderabad was only open six days a week because it had been unable to secure a 365-day operating licence, the person said. In both cases, according to the company source, the licence has been held up because Walmart would not pay a bribe.

Reuters