Tesco has kept quiet about local reports linking the company with a joint venture agreement in India with Bharti Enterprises.
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Indian newspaper The Economic Times reported that Bharti may have finalised Tesco as its retail partner and that negotiations were in final stages, after secretive talks lasting four-months.
But a Tesco spokesperson told just-food: “We do not comment on rumours and speculation.”
Bharti Enterprises chairman and group managing director, Sunil Mittal, told the newspaper that the company has not yet finalised a foreign partner. “We are in talks with a few of them and will finalise it in the next few months,” he purportedly said.
India, which has experienced a consumer-driven economic boom, is not currently one of the five Asia Pacific markets infiltrated as part of Tesco’s international strategy.
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By GlobalDataIndia does not allow foreign direct investment (FDI) in multi-brand retail stores, but foreign companies can own up to 51% in single-brand retail stores. Tesco will hope to gather a strong presence in the Indian market until the FDI rules in retail are relaxed, the newspaper reported.
On 17 May just-food reported that the Indian Government had not yet made a decision on whether to allow foreign direct investment (FDI) in the retail sector and was examining the impact that such a move would have on employment and domestic trade.
