Reuter's India have reported the world's second largest retailer, French chain Carrefour, will open four or five wholesale ‘cash and carry' outlets around India by the end of the year.
Earlier this week it was reported the firm would be opening its first wholesale outlet in New Delhi within a few months, but plans for other stores were not mentioned.
The company has been keen to enter India for years, and has acquired premises in New Delhi, Bangalore, Chennai and Hyderabad, two sources told Reuters, while two others said Carrefour had signed a 20-year lease on a 100,000ft2 property for its first outlet in New Delhi.
India allows full foreign ownership of cash-and-carry stores, but not of hypermarkets or supermarkers, in order to protect the interests of smaller operators, which make up most of the retail landscape in the country.
However, there have been rumours that India's government is considering relaxing these laws.
"If there is a way we can operate a hypermarket, we will applaud the decision," Carrefour's India chief Jean Noel Bironneau said.
"Meanwhile, we are waiting, everyone is waiting for the government's decision."
