Indian retail sector blooming

India retail sector is about to shake up. After early this month Bharti announced his join venture with world giant Wal-Mart, Indian retailers are taking positions to define their own share of the market.

While UK retailer Tesco - who has been rumoured in the past to be teaming up with Bharti - is still looking for an Indian partner to enter this booming retail sector, French Carrefour has already started conversations with Wadia Group, after a wide survey of the Indian market. Wadia Group is an Indian business conglomerate represented in (a.o.) textiles, petrochemicals and airlines.

Australian retailer Woolworths already announced its alliance with Indian Tata Group. Other big Indian retailers such as Reliance Retail have acquired other smaller Indian partners to strengthen their position in a market that promises shaking times in the coming years, reports local newspaper The Business Times Singapore.

However, the Indian government has allowed total freedom of foreign investment in the logistics, supply chain and cash-and-carry businesses. This has benefited US retailer Target, who has been sourcing goods from India since 1999. Target intends to increase its purchasing volume to 30 per cent by the end of this year. It is expected that the world's leading retailers, buying a lot of their products now in China, will start to focus on the Indian market as a new supplier.