UK-based retail giant Tesco is considering opening stores in India following that country’s decision in September to relax laws preventing foreign ownership of multi-brand retail outlets.
The group’s executive director of corporate and legal affairs Dame Lucy Neveille-Rolfe said India presented a growing market and Tesco was keen to establish stores there. However, conditions relating to product sourcing would have to be better understood before the company would commit to entering the sector.
Tesco currently has operations in India providing back end support for Tata group firm Trent, which it entered into an agreement with in 2008.
Meanwhile, the Indian Express has reported German retailer Metro has indicated it is not considering establishing multi-brand retail outlets in the country owing to the slow rate of development there and the many barriers for international players that are yet to be removed.
'I am not happy with the pace of development here. India needs acceleration and speed in decision making,' Metro Group vice-president of international affairs Asia Pacific Tino Zeiske said at the World Economic Forum on India.
'We do not have any intention to come for the front end here. We are present in cash-and-carry and we will gradually expand this business.
'The government's role should be to remove or lower barriers for investments. The ground level local governments should be given more power from the Centre and that will help in taking faster decisions,' Zeiske said.
The Indian government cleared the way for 51 per cent overseas ownership in multi-brand retail stores on 14 September but left the final decisions to individual states.
