Why big players piling into Indian retail may be in for a rude surprise

Anyone betting on dominating retail in India will have to beat Reliance at home. They could be in for an expensive lesson

Apparently, there’s a pot of gold in Indian retail, and big players from around the world want to dip in. Many of them are likely to come up empty-handed.

The volume of high-profile announcements in the sector recently has been remarkable. Walmart Inc. led with a $16 billion deal to buy Flipkart Online Services Pvt. Ltd., India’s largest e-commerce retailer; China’s Tencent Holdings Ltd. will retain its holdings in Flipkart as well. After pouring billions into India to compete with Flipkart, Amazon now says it hopes to pick up a substantial stake in Future Group, which runs over 1,000 brick-and-mortar