Walmart to Open 50 new stores in India and create 40,000 Job Opportunities

Posted on March 27, 2017

US-based multinational retailing Corporation Walmart has decided to open 50 new stores across India, half of which will be located in Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand in next three – four years.

Currently, Walmart has 20 stores in India and planning to open 10 stores each in Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. They are also eyeing two more stores in Lucknow, in addition to Ghaziabad, Noida, Kanpur, Allahabad, Haridwar, Dehradun and Haldwani.

With the new stores opening, Walmart will create job opportunities for over 40,000 people in the country, as the giant retailing corporation will hire 2000-2500 people per store.

Commenting on the development, Walmart’s India spokesperson told TOI, “Our commitment to the country is very deep and we are growing our footprint in India further by opening 50 more cash-and-carry stores in the next few years across key focus states, including AP, Telangana, UP, Uttarakhand, Haryana, Maharashtra etc. Our development team is growing this store pipeline for the last couple of years and we’re confident of continuing our contribution to the creation of thousands of skilled jobs, helping kiranas, farmers, and SME suppliers succeed through our cash-and-carry business.”

Walmart will work on cash-and-carry segment and will face heavy competition from Metro AG and Reliance from states like Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand. Also, read about India’s biggest retail store D-mart.

Cash and carry is a form of trade in which goods are sold from a wholesale warehouse operated either on a self-service basis, on the basis of samples or a combination of the three. The wholesale outlets are only allowed to sell to retailers, canteens, and hotels.

Walmart is also awaiting clarity on the food retail guidelines. They aim for international food products rather than limiting themselves to domestically produced and manufactured food products.

“As we’ve said earlier, allowing 100% FDI in food retail is a very progressive step, but having a certain percentage of non-food items in this policy will make it economically viable,” said the company’s spokesperson.

Walmart to Open 50 new stores in India and create 40,000 Job Opportunities