Walmart to open 15 more stores in Andhra

Walmart India today said it plans to open 15 more cash-and-carry stores in Andhra Pradesh apart from setting up a centre for sourcing agriculture products from small and marginal farmers.
Walmart India president and chief executive officer Krish Iyer said the company has three stores in the state and it "plans to open another 15".
Meanwhile, four leading retail chains - Walmart India, Future Group, Spencers and Arvind -- have signed MoUs with the state government to invest Rs 1,500 crore in Andhra Pradesh with a commitment to generate 25,000 jobs.
Iyer said Walmart India would engage in areas like working with small farmers, and investing in training.

Talking about ease of doing business in India, he said both at the centre and the state several steps are visible in this direction.
"The efforts are visible. The events on the ground do take time and I believe that in the next 12-18 months, we are going to see some significant results visible on the ground itself," he said.

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Talking about the challenges being faced by the retail sector, Iyer said the main challenges of retail is the real estate cost and rental cost and therefore the consequent impact on profitability.
"In food business, cost of power is very high. Getting land and power at industrial rates will be very useful for the business," he said.

He said that there are restrictions on opening and closing of stores which should not be there.
Citing examples of Taiwan and Dubai, he said on the back of good shopping experience, Dubai is growing fast.