Bharti-Walmart plans 3-5 new outlets by year-end

Bharti Walmart, a 'cash and carry' or wholesale joint venture between Wal-Mart Stores of the US and Bharti Enterprises, plans to add 3-5 stores by the end of the year, a spokeswoman for the world's largest retailer said today.

Wal-Mart operates 17 cash and carry stores, in India in partnership with Bharti Enterprises, which owns India's top mobile telecom operator Bharti Airtel.

Foreign ownership regulations in India do not allow global hypermarket and supermarket chains such as Wal-Mart Stores and Carrefour SA to set up shops in the country. These companies are, however, allowed to operate single-brand wholesale stores in alliance with Indian partners.

In December last year, the government was unable to push through a decision to allow such retail chains to own 51 per cent in India's multi-brand retail stores after a huge political backlash. The issue has been put on the back burner since then.

Walmart also plans to ramp up the headcount at its unit, @WalmartLabs, in Bangalore to about 200 by end 2012 from 125 now, Jermey King, chief technical officer of Global e-Commerce, Walmart.com, told reporters in New Delhi.

The unit's job is to help Wal-Mart capture more online sales from the proliferation of smartphones and social networking websites.