Get ready to shop at Wal-Mart

Bharti-Tesco talks over, US giant becomes suitor

Buckle up your seatbelts for a streetfight you may never see in your lives again. Sunil Mittal-controlled Bharti Enterprises is tying up with American retail giant Wal-Mart, to take on Mukesh Ambani’s Rs 25,000 crore Reliance Retail juggernaut.

When forces like that array on both sides of the aisle, it means two things instantly: one, the consumer will truly be king, spoilt for choice as hyper-competition cuts prices to the bone. Secondly, there will be enough material for business school case studies in the years to come from this unfolding streetfight for your loyalty.

There are other actors in India’s retail scrimmage: While the Aditya Vikram Birla group is ready for play with a Rs 15,000 crore warchest, the Tatas, Kishore Biyani’s Food Bazaar, Subhiksha, Apna Bhandar, are already wooing you.

Bharti and Wal-Mart are expected to sign a franchise agreement to set up hypermarkets, supermarkets and grocery stores in the next few days. Land is being acquired in Mumbai and Bangalore for retail stores, which will be rolled out sometime next year.

Wal-Mart has more than 3,900 stores in the US alone, and another 2,700 across the rest of the world.

Until a few days ago, Bharti officials maintained that the group was in talks with at least three major retail chains — UK’s Tesco, France’s Carrefour and Wal-Mart. On Saturday, Tesco announced it was not going to join hands with Bharti for a foray into Indian retail. DNA Money first reported about Bharti’s move to opt for Wal-Mart on November 15. A Bharti spokesperson said the company has no comments. Wal-Mart officials too were not available for comment.