Metro Cash & Carry, the German business-to-business wholesale giant, has decided against opening a store in any state in India until it has the agriculture produce marketing committee (APMC) licence in hand.
The company, which has two stores in Bangalore, is yet to get a full APMC licence in Karnataka. At present, it is only allowed to sell fruits, vegetables and diary products but no commodities.
Metro had applied for a full APMC licence in Karnataka two years back but received only a partial one about one-and-a-half year back.
Vishal Sehgal, head of corporate relations, Metro Cash & Carry India, told DNA : “The application is still pending with the Karnataka government and we expect to get the full licence soon.”
However, the company officials have been meeting the Karnataka
government representatives on an almost “weekly basis” over the last couple of years or so, only to be told the licence would be allotted “soon”, it is learnt.
In West Bengal, the licence was issued in 2005, and subsequently renewed in 2006 and 2007 and was to be valid till March 2008. But, in June 2007, it was unilaterally withdrawn by the APMC authorities.
The agri-marketing board in West Bengal is dominated by the All India Forward Bloc, a key Left Front ally in the state government. Its main vote bank is the middle level wholesalers and middlemen, whose interests it wanted to protect. The licence was finally renewed and Metro was allowed to start operations from October 2008 in Kolkata after many parleys between the state government and the company.
Metro, at present, is talking to most states and in the process of acquiring land across the country. In Punjab, it has already signed a memorandum of understanding with the state government for investing Rs 900 crore.
But Sehgal said, “India is a tough market…We have learnt to anticipate the problems early and have thus changed our planning cycle. In Punjab, we will seek a single window clearance. At present, we need 25-26 clearances, depending on the state. But in future, unless we have the licence in hand we will not even do the ground breaking for a store.”
It currently has two stores in Bangalore, and one each in Mumbai, Kolkata and Hyderabad.
Metro has also launched Metro Bandhan, a loyalty programme aimed at strengthening partnership with its customers through a range of value-added services, Ajay Sheodaan, director, customer management, Metro Cash & Carry, said.
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