Retail News Update

New Delhi, Nov 18 Global retail majors may be slowing down their India foray plans, waiting for the heat and dust to settle.

The slowdown is more visible in the food, vegetables and grocery segments where resistance from local vendors have been quite violent.

Retail CEOs FE spoke to confirmed a slowdown in negotiations, impacted as they were by the jolt Reliance Retail’s fruit and vegetable outlets received in Uttar Pradesh and Orissa, and in other northern and eastern states.

“Compared with the frenzied pace, definitely the pace of negotiations and the buzz in the retail market has toned down,” The Future Group’s Kishore Biyani told FE.

A government official said, “Our feedback is that the global majors are evaluating their options, with some of them redrafting their strategies in the light of the obstacles faced by the domestic majors.”

Companies like French major Carrefour had trimmed their India retail teams to 15 people, sources said. In the food and grocery segment, UK’s Tesco has postponed its India entry plans, while J Sainsbury has stopped negotiating for the time being.

Another tie-up, between the Tata group’s Infiti Retail and Australia’s largest retailer Woolworth’s for a chain of superMarkets and hyperMarkets, too, is under the wraps, waiting for an appropriate time to be unveiled.

Even consumer durables majors like Best Buy, Circuit City and apparel Companies like Zarra have pulled out of negotiations with Indian counterparts, clearly stating their intentions of coming all by themselves.