Walmart CEO writes to PM, seeks open, stable biz environment; CAIT terms it pressure tactics

The world's largest retailer Walmart CEO has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking stable and open business environment that protects investments, and demanded a cut in licenses and time required to open a store in India.

Doug McMillon, in the two-page letter dated October 11, also raised data privacy and localisation requirement, and wanted corporations to be allowed to transfer customer data across borders.

"A stable, welcoming regulatory environment will allow us to continue to invest in creating more jobs and building infrastructure that benefits the Indian suppliers and customers," he wrote.

Recalling his meeting with Modi during the Prime Minister's US trip last month, McMillon said Walmart was committed to investing in India and rising sourcing from the country for its global operations.

After investing USD 16 billion to acquire India's largest e-commere, Walmart-owned Flipkart and other online retailers were forced to overhaul their business model in line with changed rules governing foreign direct investment.

Reacting to the letter, domestic retailers body Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) termed the Walmart letter as "a pressure tactics".

Stating that there is no instability in the economic foundations or policy structure of the government, CAIT said the letter was a pressure tactics to find a headway into the Rs 45 lakh crore business.

In his letter to the Prime Minister, McMillon said high numbers of overlapping permits are a challenge in the retail sector. "On average, we currently need more than 45 permits and three years to open a new Best Price store. This is significantly longer than it takes in the US and many markets in which we operate".

New Best Price store, he said, contributes to 2,000 direct and indirect jobs. "Ease store in the pipeline is slowing our ability to serve customers and create new jobs," he said. "We would hope to work with your government to fine effective ways to streamline licensing and permitting procedures for retail a well."
"Flipkart and PhonePe have invested in local data infrastructure to ensure Indians can benefit from the growth of the data economy in India," he said. "As a company that has selected India as a hub for our global retail technology innovation, we also believe it is important to allow businesses appropriate means to transfer data across borders."
India, he said, is a priority market for Walmart. "We will continue to grow our business the right way in the country."
"With an open, stable regulatory environment, we can better serve Indian communities, source more from Indian farmers and other small suppliers and add to the more than 1,00,000 direct jobs we already support in the country."
He said there are significant opportunities to grow sourcing from Indian companies to sell within the country as well as outside. "Over 95 per cent of what we sell in our Best Price stores in India is sourced locally, Flipkart has over 1,00,000 sellers that identify a micro, small and medium-sized enterprises and we are confident that the connections we make as we grow our business will allow us to add to the billions of dollars of exports we already source from India."