RELIANCE urges Indian government to let in foreign retailers

PlanetRetail.net 9 October 2006 

In a recent press interview, the chairman of Reliance Industries in India, Mukesh Ambani, has said that he is in favour of the government allowing foreign retailers such as Tesco, Wal-Mart and Carrefour into the Indian market, "Companies like Tesco and Wal-Mart would contribute to this economy hugely and keep local companies on their toes. We should welcome Tesco because it's good for competition, and that's good for Reliance."

At present Reliance has a clear run while the government keeps global retail giants waiting to enter the country. "Every company has a home market and a foreign market. We're in India, so we don't need any (help from) regulation to get a head start. Tesco would add value to India. Foreign direct investment should be open," he said. Reliance is slated to open its first retail store in Hyderabad in the next few days.

Mr Ambani said the county's finest fruit and food produce will be supplied to his Reliance supermarkets from 1,600 new farm centres. This, he believes, will wean India's farmers away from their overloaded bullock carts and draw them into a new and better-paid relationship with 21st century technology. He believes his retail venture can generate USD25 billion in annual sales and 1 million new jobs by 2011 by training farmers to use new machinery and information technology. Noting that India's food industries are not organized, Ambani said "There's a limited shelf life. The losses from moving between farm and store are between 30 and 50 per cent and if farmers can't sell, they lose everything. The challenge is to cut that out."