Bharti to unveil retail plans today; Wal-Mart may stay away

NEW DELHI: Bharti Enterprises is expected to unveil its much-awaited retail plans today.

Rajan Bharti Mittal, joint managing director of Bharti Enterprises, is scheduled to announce Bharti Retail’s “strategic roadmap”. But, from all available indications, no Wal-Mart official is likely to be present on the occasion.

Does this have anything to do with Congress president Sonia Gandhi’s letter to the PM earlier this month cautioning against the US retail giant’s Indian debut and the likely repercussions on small shopkeepers?

Perhaps. Or it could be that Bharti wants to keep the joint venture it is expected to sign later in the week with Wal-Mart under wraps till the last minute.

Sources told DNA that Michael Duke, Wal-Mart’s CEO, is keeping his date with India next week despite the hype surrounding the tie-up with Bharti. But Monday’s announcement will be solely from Bharti’s side.

According to retail industry experts, the ‘Wal-Mart’ brand name may be missing from the front-end grocery stores since the stores have to be fully owned and operated by Bharti.

While this tactic could help quell, to some extent, the disquiet and opposition Wal-Mart’s entry has faced, Wal-Mart itself is believed to be open to the idea of not getting to use its high-profile brand at the front end at all.

The US retailer will focus on back-end operations like logistics and supply chain management.