Bajaj Elec fast-tracks delayed tower units

This story first appeared in DNA Money edition on Friday, Oct 26, 2012.

Bajaj Electricals is looking to fast-track completion of transmission line tower (TLT) projects which have run into significant time and cost overruns and are hurting the performance of its engineering and projects (E&P) division.

Hit by the delays, the E&P segment’s revenues for the quarter ended September 30 fell 22.5% at Rs132.71 crore.

Shekhar Bajaj, chairman and managing director, Bajaj Electricals, said, “We realised that until we don’t complete the site and hand it over, we would not get our last payment and the retention money does not come by as well. Therefore, we decided to work on the sites and close as many as possible,” he said.

As on April 2011, Bajaj Electricals had 24 active TLT sites. While some of them have been closed in the last fiscal, about nine sites will be closed this fiscal, the company said.

“We are hoping that by the end of March 2013 we should be able to bring the overall number down to six sites and begin the next fiscal on a positive note,” said Bajaj, adding that another five will be completed by September.

Some of the recent orders, Bajaj said, offered reasonable margins and are more profitable in the long run.

In the fans business, it is looking to strengthen itself in the premium segment in which it has been going slow for sometime.

Anant Bajaj, joint managing director, Bajaj Electricals, said, “We are introducing a range of premium products which will add significantly to our sales in the coming quarters.”

With the subsidised gas cylinders per household coming down to six a year, the firm sees huge opportunity for its induction cookers.“Last year induction cookers registered sales of Rs100 crore and we are looking at Rs150 crore this fiscal,” said Bajaj.


While the company had clocked Rs 3,200 crore revenue in the last fiscal, the management is eyeing an overall turnover of Rs 3,700 crore this fiscal.

The company reported 7.8% year on year growth in net profit for the second quarter at Rs26.92 crore, while net sales rose 4.7% to Rs733.81 crore. During the quarter, lighting and consumer durable segments achieved total revenue of Rs201.65 crore and Rs398.69 crore, respectively.

ITC sees hotel business picking up in a year

This Q&A first appeared in DNA Money edition on Thursday, Oct 25, 2012.

Nakul Anand

ITC Hotels, India’s second-largest hotel chain, has close to 100 properties in over 70 destinations across four brands. The company, also among the most profitable hospitality firms in the country, has ten LEED Platinum rated super-premium luxury hotels in the country. Nakul Anand, executive director, ITC Ltd, speaks about his company’s plans and the Indian hospitality market in general. Excerpts from the interview:

A lot of new room inventory has been added in the local hospitality market. Do you think that has caused a glut?
The inventory addition is as anticipated, though I feel the demand for hotel rooms could have increased faster than supply. The current market scenario is true for the entire country, mainly because there is economic slowdown and our source markets are significantly under pressure.

How long do you think it will take the industry to reach a more optimal level of business operations?
I am a great optimist and would imagine most of the issues getting ironed out and demand taking off within a year. Business environment will be much better in the third-fourth quarter next fiscal.

The Indian hospitality market has evolved considerably. How has ITC kept pace?
Our philosophy always has been to make a meaningful contribution in multiple ways. We believe that business can and must play a role in enriching the country’s tourism landscape. Therefore, we have consciously moved from a single dimension of financial value creation to a triple bottomline philosophy of creating value that encompasses economic, environmental and social dimensions.
Our strategy is to clearly focus on a few niche areas and provide unique and differentiated value propositions to our guests. We have straddled the entire value chain and now cater to the emerging needs of travellers in different parts of the country through our four brands.

How do you compare with other hotel companies in the country?
If you compare profitability (profit as a percentage of turnover) of other hotel businesses in our competitive set, we are the most profitable hotel company in India.

There were reports about challenging times ahead for luxury hotels. What is your take on it?
One needs to understand that hospitality is a long-term business. While there can be short-term blips due to various reasons, there is always a turnaround. We have seen many such phases in the past and that hasn’t really stopped the industry from growing. Our growth plans over the last three decades have been driven by investments. We continue to pursue this strategy and add large properties to our portfolio of super luxury hotels. Our recent addition in the luxury segment stands as testimony of our vision. We currently have 3-4 hotels under construction in the premium segment and 6-7 at the drawing board stage.

So there is no change in your outlay for future developments?
There is no change in our development outlay of Rs9,000 crore. Our current development pipeline has 40 hotels under various stages of development and all the funding will be done through internal sources.

We are confident of doubling room capacity across brands in the next couple of years while simultaneously adding newer developments. In the years to come, we will have a portfolio of 150 hotels either owned or managed by us under one of the four brands.

Your new hotel ITC Grand Chola, Chennai already has competition from a host of domestic and international brands. How do you see this property shaping up in the coming years?
Luckily in hotels business, one is able to foresee trends 3-4 years ahead as most hotels take five years from ground breaking to get operational. We knew there will be additional supply and 4-5 new hotels would come into the market. We also know there will not be any significant new supply in the next five years. So there is a decent time to establish ourselves as a leader. Our hotel is uniquely positioned in the Chennai hospitality market and has already created a lot of excitement in a short span. Given the kind of facilities offered (accommodation, meeting / banquet space and restaurants), we foresee becoming a preferred destination for a host of corporate and social activities both domestic and international. In fact, we see in the MICE (meetings, incentives, conferences and events) segment, pharmaceuticals and automobile sectors contributing significantly to the hotel’s revenues.

You are developing a hotel in Colombo. What factors led to the move? Is ITC getting aggressive on international presence?
It was a good opportunity in Colombo and the land parcel we got is a very ideal location for a hotel project. Sri Lanka is in proximity to India so managing the business affairs would be easier. We are looking at opportunities in Nepal but haven’t finalised anything yet. International presence for ITC is mainly driven by a pre-condition, that is, countries or destinations in close proximity to India and regularly frequented by Indian outbound travellers. So places like Singapore, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Thailand, etc would make for a strategic fit, else why should I have a hotel in the middle of nowhere. The whole world is coming to India to set up hotels and there has to be a very compelling reason to set up hotels in international markets.

Lupin says buyouts tough as firms clinging to brands

This story appeared in DNA Money edition on Wednesday, Oct 24, 2012.

Lupin, the Mumbai-based drugmaker which is looking to acquire brands on war footing, said it is becoming challenging to forge deals as large companies are not parting with their assets easily.

“Everyone is trying to conserve cash flow from existing products and are very sensitive to losing anything out of their earnings,” said Vinita Gupta, director, Lupin Ltd and group president and CEO Lupin Pharmaceuticals Inc, on the second quarter earnings call on Tuesday.

She said the company is looking at every possible acquisition opportunity, both in terms of products and firms. Lupin has been looking to buy drug brands overseas mainly in the US for some time to reduce reliance on less profitable generic medicines.

“From a corporate development standpoint, it is a priority area and the majority of our focus is on processing and closing opportunities to add to our brand business,” she said.

The company has been targeting multiple assets in the areas including pediatric, dermatology, ophthalmology and respiratory ailments.

Gupta during the first quarter earnings call had said the company was looking to close one or two opportunities in the current fiscal.

On the kind of valuations the company was ready to offer, Kamal K Sharma, managing director, Lupin, said it was dependent on the depth of intellectual property, the competitive dynamics around the product, the therapeutic group and the potential of the drug.

“So one can talk of multiple of sales, Ebitda, etc and it could vary from one time to four times sales. We as a company have strong norms and discipline. While we have to match business interest, we also have to match financial interest. We are very actively looking and brand portfolio in the US. It is a very important part of our business, but we won’t acquire something for the heck of acquiring,” said Sharma.

Meanwhile, the company plans to introduce at least 15 new generic products in the US this fiscal. “Oral contraceptives will form a major chunk with about 8 to 10 products,” said Gupta. The drugmaker has launched five products in the US thus far this fiscal.

Lupin reported a 8.84% year on year rise in consolidated net profit to `290.5 crore on the back of robust sales across the US, India and Japan. Net sales increased 29% to Rs2,239.3 crore year on year.

During the second quarter, the company’s formulation sales across the US and Europe grew 40% to Rs835.5 crore year on year, while India formulations business grew 18% to Rs606.4 crore. Japan sales grew 85% to Rs301.8 crore.

At Horniman Circle opener, Starbucks sets premium tone

My colleague Nupur Anand co-authored this story appearing in DNA Money edition on Saturday, Oct 20, 2012.

The Seattle, US-headquartered Starbucks on Friday opened its first store in India, kickstarting what could be a sedate rollout, going ahead.

Yet, if the 4,500 sq ft store in the historic Elphinstone Building in South Mumbai’s Horniman Circle — with an upscale brand Hermes at sniffing distance — is any indication, the company has positioned itself at the premium end, about 50-60% costlier than Café Coffee Day.

The experience is akin to “walking into a shrine of Starbucks coffee”, Howard Schultz, chairman, president and CEO, Starbucks Coffee Company, said of the flagship store, which sports tastefully done up, wood-and-leather interiors.

Two more stores are slated to open in the city next week — in the Taj Mahal Palace Annexe (Gateway of India) and the Oberoi Mall in Goregaon East — before the coffee chain hits Delhi and elsewhere with another 3 stores in the next 6 months.

Beyond that, officials of Tata Starbucks Ltd, an equal joint venture (JV) between New York Stock Exchange-listed Starbucks Coffee Company and BSE-listed Tata Global Beverages Ltd, were tight-lipped, underscoring a circumspect debut.

The bigger question, say experts, is whether Starbucks can really crack the India code, coming in now?

Schultz appeared gung-ho. “The size of the market is very large. If you look at other countries where we have stores — 700 in mainland China, 800 in the UK, 1,000 in Japan, 8,000 in the US — this is a very large opportunity and putting an overall number for stores here will not be possible at this stage. But with Tata’s help and the size and scale of this market, we believe this is where we will grow significantly and make investments over the near future,” he said.

Experts feel the brand name, too, will work its magic — at least initially.

“It is a very successful brand. They have been able to establish themselves in other Asian markets such as China, which is predominantly a tea drinking country. In fact, they are believed to have created the demand for coffee in the Chinese market and have met with roaring success. Therefore, India may not be difficult either,” said Arvind Singhal, chairman of retail consultancy Technopak Advisors.

Technopak expects India’s cafe market to touch $410 million by 2017, up from $230 million now, with the number of cafes rising from 1,950 to 2,900.

Others feel Starbucks will benefit from localisation, as it has in other markets. For instance, in China, it worked with ingredients like green tea.

Something similar will work just fine here, said Gaurav Sharma, assistant vice president, Technova.

Schultz appeared to concur. “Though we will be importing coffee beans, for the first time in our history, we will be sourcing and roasting coffee locally,” he said.

“This apart, we will also offer a host of localised food items sourced from Tata’s food and beverage operations. So, you will see items like elaichi mawa croissant, murg tikka panini, tandoori paneer roll among others,” said Avani Saglani Davda, CEO, Tata Starbucks Ltd.

But will this be enough, given that competition is rife, with several players in the fray?

Singhal of Technopak feels it would take a herculean effort to upstage the market leader, Café Coffee Day. But of course, the positioning of two brands is different and so a clone war is not impending, he is quick to add.

Some analyst believes that in order to succeed Starbucks will have to focus on the location and quality.

To be sure, the café chain is nota leader in all the markets that it is present in, Devangshu Dutta, chief executive, Third Eyesight retail points out. According to him, pricing, product offering and location will decide its success.

Yet others feel the company will do well to focus on smaller sizes and cheaper beverages.

The world’s largest coffee chain will need options that are priced as much as 33% lower than its US offerings to succeed in the Indian market, said Saloni Nangia, president at Technopak Advisors.

For example, Café Coffee Day, the nation’s biggest chain with 1,360 stores across the country, sells a regular cup of cappuccino for Rs61 in Mumbai, while its closest competitor Barista, with 318 stores, sells for Rs69. This, in a nation where the World Bank says about two-thirds of the people live on less than $2 (around Rs108 as at Friday’s conversion) a day.

That may prompt Starbucks to sell its drinks for about $2-2.50 a cup, Nangia said, compared with about $4 in Beijing and $3.50 in the US.

But it may well choose not to do that and remain a premium player, said Larry Miller, an Atlanta-based analyst at RBC Capital Markets Corp. “I wouldn’t be surprised to see similar levels to other markets around the world, which would be a pretty expensive proposition for the Indian consumer,” he said. “In China, their products are just as expensive as they are in the US.”

(With inputs from Bloomberg)

IHCL looking to board Orient-Express again

This story first appeared in DNA Money edition on Friday, Oct 19, 2012.

Five years after its bid for Orient-Express Hotels was thwarted, the Tata Group-owned Indian Hotels Co (IHCL) has once again thrown the lasso around the New York Stock Exchange-listed global operator of high-end hotels, cruise and train services.

IHCL, the group’s hospitality flagship, along with Charme II Fund, an Italian fund managed by Montezemolo and Partners SpA, has offered to buy the 93.1% stake which it does not own in the Hamilton, Bermuda-headquartered company and take the company private.

IHCL is offering $12.63 per share in cash, valuing Orient-Express at $1.86 billion (Rs 9,936 crore), including its net debt.

The all-cash offer represents a 40% premium to Orient-Express’ closing stock price on October 17, the last trading day prior to this announcement, and a 45.2% premium to its 10-trading day average of closing stock price.

The Orient-Express stock shot up 41.35% intra-day to $12.75 and was trading about 31% at $11.80 at 9.30 pm IST following the offer. The stock has shed 78% since September 2007 when IHCL first made its bid.

IHCL, through Samsara Properties Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary, currently holds around 7% of Orient-Express.

On Wednesday, the IHCL board authorised the company to make an offer to the Orient-Express board to acquire 93.1% Class A common shares.

“We believe this premium all-cash offer represents a compelling and immediate value proposition for Orient-Express’ shareholders and provides it with access to the additional capital necessary to preserve its properties and heritage while potentially expanding its footprint,” said R K Krishna Kumar, vice chairman, IHCL.

“Despite the takeover, Orient-Express would remain an independent and autonomous company with its own Board of directors,” said an IHCL spokesperson.

IHCL is understood to have raised a war chest for the buy, including debt financing from Bank of America NA, ICICI Bank and Standard Chartered Bank.

Holcim royalty scythe hangs on ACC, Ambuja

This story first appeared in DNA Money edition on Thursday, Oct 18, 2012.

Swiss cement major Holcim will likely collect a hefty royalty from its two Indian listed subsidiaries ACC and Ambuja Cement, according to persistent but unconfirmed market talk. Experts tracking the sector said the talk has been around for some time, though ACC and Ambuja have been denying any such move.

Now, with the two companies in the silent period ahead of the announcement of quarterly results today, the buzz appears set to continue for a while. For the record, ACC officials declined to comment, while Ambuja Cement officials could not be reached.

Industry sources said parent Holcim has apparently been considering imposition of royalty charge to the extent of 2% of sales on both of its subsidiaries. It could be levied anytime in the third (Q3) or fourth quarter (Q4) of this fiscal.

The said 2% could translate into around or upwards of Rs 58 crore for ACC, given its April-June sales of Rs 2,919 crore. On an annual basis, it could be around or upwards of Rs 200 crore, given total sales of Rs 10,012 crore in 2011.

Similarly, for Ambuja, 2% royalty charge could mean an outgo of around or upwards of Rs 51 crore, given its April-June sales of Rs 2,566 crore. On an annual basis, it could be around or upwards of Rs 171 crore, given its sales of Rs 8,531 crore in 2011.

Such massive payouts could have serious implications for the two companies’ profitability, one reason the market buzz would not die.
For example, a levy of 1% of total sales may impact the earnings per share (EPS), an indicator of a company’s profitability, by 8-9% for ACC and 6-7% for Ambuja.

The EPS for ACC was Rs 69.29 for 2011 and Rs 8.07 for the quarter ended June; for Ambuja, it was Rs 8.02 and Rs 3.05, respectively.
Yet, an analyst with a leading domestic brokerage firm said: “I have recently interacted with officials of Ambuja. They said no discussion on royalty took place between the Holcim management and them and that there has been no royalty-related communication from Holcim either.”

But industry sources said it is normal for Holcim to collect royalty fees for access to technology, brand and technical support services from its units. Its units in Indonesia and the Philippines, for example, are understood to be paying around 2% of sales in royalty.

“In case of ACC and Ambuja, neither is using the Holcim brand. But it could be that Holcim is providing some technology and support services for which it may levy a charge,” said an analyst from a domestic brokerage. Other sources said ACC and Ambuja are already paying around 0.5% of sales to Holcim for the services of its corporate services group.

A Morgan Stanley study in June 2012 hinted that the two Indian companies may be paying fees to entities wholly owned by Holcim for access to technology, IT implementation, support and knowledge.

This, however, could not be immediately confirmed.

The Morgan Stanley study revealed that Holcim’s Asian subsidiaries pay royalty to their parent through Holcim’s Asian arms. Such payments are categorised under three heads: trademark fees; technology for operation; technical support / IT services and support.

“Interestingly, ACC and Ambuja Cements also currently make payments to these entities (Holcim’s Asian arms that receive royalty payments from Holcim’s other Asian subsidiaries). While the basis and nature of such payments are not defined in the annual report, ACC’s annual report describes them as ‘Payment for Training / Technical Consultancy’,” the Morgan Stanley report had stated.

The report also noted that ACC and Ambuja Cement are strong Indian brands and hence, it is unlikely they would pay any trademark fees.

Zee Learn expands orbit with kids channel

This story first appeared in DNA Money edition on Tuesday, Oct 16, 2012.

Zee Group, India’s leading media player, has taken yet another pioneering initiative in the television industry by launching the country’s first edutainment television channel for kids.

ZeeQ, the new channel launched by Zee Learn, the BSE-listed educational division of the group, will cater to the education and entertainment needs of children in the 4-14 years age group.

Punit Goenka, MD & CEO, Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd, the group flagship, said the new channel is in line with the group’s principle of improving human capital.

“For two decades Zee has been making a difference in the lives of millions, and now ZeeQ will sustain it further. It is a step ahead in fostering curiosity among children through fun and entertainment,” he said, adding that the new channel will have a mix of home produced and acquired content.

ZeeQ’s broadcast operations would be managed by Zee Entertainment and Enterprises Ltd, while Zee Learn will look after the content and channel management.

The 24-hour paid-for channel would be offered across various direct-to-home (DTH) and digital cable platforms across the country from November 5. Pricing and bundling details will be announced closer to the launch date as negotiations with multi-system operators and DTH players are still on, the officials said.

On investment, Navneet Anhal, COO, Zee Learn, said, “Being a new business, significant investment has been made in this channel. We are focusing efforts on market exposure now.”

The programming content has been planned after taking into account Zee Learn’s experiences in running a chain of pre-schools and under Kidzee (over 1,000 centres) and K-12 under Mount Litera Zee School (over 100 centres).

“During the production and acquisition of content, we took into consideration the learnings of Zee Learn from the 18 years of interacting with as many as 300,000 students, parents and teachers across India. This has helped us make the edutainment content engaging and relevant to the needs of Indian children,” said Anhal.

Subhadarshi Tripathi, business head, ZeeQ, said the programming and scheduling approach of ZeeQ’s content is geared to help children with subliminal education while keeping them engaged in never-before edutainment fashion.

“The channel will have 210 minutes (three-and-a-half hours) of live action content and 90 minutes (one-and-a-half hours) of animated content for now. We have also acquired Emmy Award wining shows from across the globe for a period of five years. The feeds of these shows will also be made available in Hindi. The ratio of Hindi to English language programming on the channel will be 70:30. Some proportion of programming on the channel will also be in Hinglish,” said Tripathi.

The advertising market for kids entertainment channels in India is estimated to be around `250 crore growing at 10% year on year.

While the market is fiercely competitive, Zee Learn officials said child edutainment is a completely new space in India with ZeeQ as the only focused Indian player.

“We will be creating a completely new market with the channel,” said Tripathi.

Samhi scoops up Formule 1 hotels from Accor's Barque

This story first appeared in DNA Money edition on Tuesday, Oct 16, 2012.

French hospitality major Accor has divested a 60% stake in its wholly owned subsidiary Barque Hotels to Samhi Hotels.

Barque has a portfolio of 15 Formule 1 hotel projects, of which two (in Greater Noida and Ahmedabad) are operational and the rest are in various stages of development. By the end of 2013, the group expects to have almost half-a-dozen Formule 1 hotels, with new properties in Pune, Bangalore, Gurgaon and Hyderabad coming on stream.

“The deal is in line with our global strategy of ‘asset-light’ development, which allows us to focus on operating a consistently high quality portfolio of hotels that spans the spectrum from luxury to budget,” said Gaurav Bhushan, chief development and investment officer, Accor Asia-Pacific.

Accor will maintain a 40% stake in the hotels and will continue to operate them under long-term operating agreements.

In a non-exclusive arrangement with Samhi, the French company will also retain the right to own and/or develop further Formule 1 projects in India.

The deal size was not disclosed.

Ashish Jakhanwala, managing director and CEO, Samhi Hotels Pvt Ltd, said, Samhi will invest $40-50 million in Barque Hotels in the next 18 months.

“An entry-level international hotel brand was missing in our portfolio of brands,” said Jakhanwala, pointing out that the segment has huge demand, which Formule 1 can help tap.

He said the ownership structure is likely to remain in the same proportion unless a new structure is devised in future.

According to Jakhanwala, the deal was initiated in February this year.

The approach of Samhi, set up in December 2010, has been to work with multiple hotel brands and already has Courtyard by Marriott and Royal Orchid, Hyatt Place and Fairfield in its portfolio.

Earlier this year, it had acquired BSE-listed Royal Orchid Hotels’ Ahmedabad hotel operated by Royal Orchid Ahmedabad.

The world’s leading hotel operator and market leader in Europe, Accor is present in 92 countries with nearly 3,500 hotels and 4.4 lakh rooms. Besides Formule 1, its portfolio of hotel brands includes Sofitel, Pullman, MGallery, Novotel, Suite Novotel, Mercure, Adagio and ibis.

Private equity players cheer tax relief prospect

This story first appeared in DNA Money edition on Wednesday, October 10, 2012.

Private equity (PE) players have said the recommendations of Parthasarathi Shome committee, set up to look into the retrospective tax issue, would remove uncertainty over intra-group restructuring and PE transactions and bring more clarity over post-tax returns.

Subbu Subramaniam N, founding partner, MCap Fund Advisors, said, “In the broader perspective, I think, the government is conveying the message that it cares for international capital by making this reversal of stance.”

As per the draft report on retrospective amendments relating to indirect transfer, PE investors would be outside of the coverage of taxation of indirect transfer where:

(i) the investment by a non-resident investor in a PE fund is in the form of units which do not results in participation in control and management of the fund;

(ii) the investor along with its associates does not have more than 26% share in total capital or voting power of the company,

(iii) the investee company or entity does not have more than 50% assets in India as compared to its global assets;

(iv) the investee company is a listed company on a recognised overseas exchange and its shares are frequently traded,

(v) the transfer of share or interest in a foreign company or entity results due to reorganisation within a group.

“Since there is some predictability about what I will be able to deliver to my investors post-tax, I can now build into my calculations while making investments,” said Subramaniam.

“Whether 5% or 10% tax, no tax, short-term, long-term tax and so on... anything that is prospective will help me to take care of the decisions thereafter, that’s the whole advantage now.”

Industry players said through the earlier amendments the government had sent a message that it did not care for foreign capital, which had compounded the problems of lacklustre returns faced by PE firms.

Amit Maheshwari, partner, Ashok Maheshwary & Associates, Chartered Accountants, said, “By exempting business reorganisations, listed investee companies, or companies having substantial non-Indian assets or investors of PE funds (which invest in units), the Shome committee recommendations will provide much needed respite to the PE industry reeling under low growth, lack of exits and clarity due to the draconian retrospective tax amendments.”

Experts said with the norms bringing in clarity, the overall fund raising is also likely to see a revival.

“If capital is seeking to come to India, it will come directly or indirectly through the funds so that actually will be a derivative benefit,” said a top official of PE fund.

Wal-Mart to go for smaller stores in India

My colleague Nupur Anand is the lead writer of this story appearing in DNA Money edition on Wednesday, October 10, 2012.

Wal-Mart, world’s largest retailer, is likely to tweak its global strategy of setting up huge retail spaces and may go for smaller stores in India, experts said.

Considering the unwillingness of Indian consumers to travel to far-flung areas for shopping, the retailer will have to set up stores within a city, for which huge spaces may not be available or come at huge costs, they said.

“The concept of hypermarkets spread across a huge space may not work in India as the retailer would want to stay closer to the customers. In this scenario, tapping an existing catchment area means there will be no space to set up such huge stores. As a result, retailers are likely to go for small format stores in India, “said Harminder Sahni of Wazir Advisors, a consultancy.

Wal-Mart is known for its hypermarkets, which are generally located on the outskirts of cities and are spread over an area of 100,000 to 260,000 sq ft.

Wal-Mart has a toehold in India through its joint venture with Bharti that runs 17 cash-and-carry stores. Though an announcement for the retail business between the two companies is yet to come, Wal-Mart calls Bharti its “natural partner”.

Experts said under the deal, the stores run by Bharti may come under Wal-Mart’s fold. Currently, Bharti runs over 200 Easyday stores that are spread over a retail space of 3000-25,000 sq ft.

Analysts said Wal-Mart, too, will stick to a similar area and go for a maximum of 50,000 sq ft.
Given the space limitation, the company is likely to tap shopping centres and malls for setting up stores.

Experts said Wal-Mart will take a cue from Easyday and open stores in different formats. Easyday is present in easyday, easyday Market and easyday Hyper categories.

This will not be the first time Wal-Mart would ditch the big box store format. In Mexico, the average size of the Wal-Mart stores is about 5,000 sq ft.

Pushpa Bector, senior vice-president, leasing and mall management, DLF Mall of India said most retailers are now looking for more compact space.

“Hypermarkets that were earlier looking at 100,000 to 150,000 square feet of retail real estate have rationalised their requirements. The number is now down to 55,000 to 60,000 sq ft, which appears to be a more viable approach to business,” said Bector.

Devangshu Dutta of Third Eyesight retail said going forward the company may test the water with a big-box stores.

This means that Indian shoppers would not see much of hypermarket format stores soon.

While a supermarket stocks mainly food and daily use items, hypermarkets sell apparel, electronic, furniture, etc, and have amenities such as fuel stations, eating outlets and pharmacies.

Given the space constraint, the Indian consumers at best will get advanced supermarkets.

The company may also extend this strategy to product mix, focusing on goods that meet the demand of Indian consumers.

Dutta of Third Eyesight said for every company to succeed, it is important that the products are adapted to the local taste.

“It may not be a surprise, considering that Wal-Mart has burnt its fingers in other markets. For instance, both in Mexico and Brazil it took time for the retailer to get the right product mix.”

Experts said Wal-Mart was able to secure number one position in both the countries only after sufficiently localising the product offerings.