Carrefour says pulling out of India

PARIS (Reuters) - French retail giant Carrefour said on Monday it was closing its five stores in India, pulling out the country's vast retail market.

The company has five wholesale cash-and-carry outlets in India, where it has been active since 2010. Their closure will be effective as of September, Carrefour said in a statement.

India's retail market is notoriously difficult for foreign retailers to crack into even though the government began making it easier for investment in late 2012.

Carrefour flagged in March that it was mulling what to do with its Indian stores, noting that it was only a small business that generated neither losses nor gains.

Since then the Indian press has reported that closure of the stores was likely to exit the country and that some senior staff were already leaving.

(Reporting by Leigh Thomas; Editing by Andrew Callus)