Walmart presently has 20 Indian wholesale outlets which sell goods to small shopkeepers rather than directly to consumers. Globally, the company operates 359 wholesale stores, as compared with 5,633 retail outlets, according to its most recent annual report. Walmart has no retail stores in India.
The retailer’s growth in India has suffered from an internal bribery probe, uncertainty over regulations on foreign investment in the country, and, in 2013, from the severing of a partnership with New Delhi-based Bharti Enterprises aimed at opening retail stores.
Walmart named a new India head in December 2013, announcing that its focus in the country would be on opening wholesale stores and building its supply chain. The company’s agenda to enter India with supermarkets has been met with fierce opposition from small shopkeepers and political parties.
In recent news Walmart has revealed plans to build a new marketplace for tapping into India’s ecommerce industry.
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