French retail giant Carrefour is curbing its expansion into India in light of a cooling economy there and the global economic downturn.
According to a report by the Business Standard, Carrefour, which operates two cash and carry outlets in India, has seemingly put planned store openings on hold.
Toward the end of 2011 the retailer was finalising 10-12 real estate lease deals, the newspaper reported. And while many of the land deals had now been completed, much of the personnel hiring for the planned stores had been put on hold.
The group reported a global operating loss of US$592m in 2011, after posting profits of around US$2.1bn the previous year.
It has been reducing store numbers in Europe due to the slowing economy there, but is increasing store numbers in emerging markets like China and Brazil. Carrefour opened 25 hypermarkets in Asia last year with 23 of these in China, the newspaper reported.
