Carrefour puts off India plan

NEW DELHI: Call it the Sonia Effect. Carrefour, the world’s second largest retailer, has postponed its India plans indefinitely in the wake of rising political opposition to the entry of transnational retailers in India.

Carrefour India head Gerard Freiszmuth told ET, “We will not be in a position to announce any concrete India entry plan till policy issues on FDI in retail are made clear.”

In February, commerce minister Kamal Nath had announced that Carrefour had identified its Indian partner (believed to be the Wadias) and the name would be made public in “2-3 weeks”.

It seems the French retailer has delayed its India foray largely due to two recent developments. “We are waiting for some more clarity on the Bharti-Wal-Mart structure.

Simultaneously,we are awaiting the results of the Icrier study commissioned by the government,” Mr Freiszmuth said. Icrier is studying the impact of transnational and corporate retailers on small mom-and-pop stores. The study was commissioned by DIPP in February.