Wal-Mart in India

Wal-Mart (and Tesco, Carrefour and other top international retailers) are very hot to get into India, which has opened its door to international retailers recently, but thus far only a crack.

It looks like Wal-Mart may be using the promise of their immense buying power as a carrot to get the Indian government to open up all the way. This article says that Wal-Mart currently buys almost $2 billion in goods from India annually ($630m directly, $1.2b indirectly) and plans to increase that about 35% annually. But, they say, that could rise much more rapidly if India were to open its retail market.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the world's top retailer, sees sourcing from India growing rapidly, but says this growth could accelerate further if foreign firms were allowed to set up retail chains in the nascent market.

"India is already our fastest growing market for direct importing, or exporting to other countries," Mike Duke, vice chairman and head of Wal-Mart International, told Reuters on Friday.

"The growth of the market here is already very significant. With retail stores here, it will grow even faster, and we've seen it (happening) in other markets."

Plans to grow India that much must sound ominous to Wal-Mart's suppliers in other countries, especially the US and China.