The US-based retailing giant Wal-Mart will start cash-and-carry business in India by opening its first distribution centre in Ludhiana by June this year.
“The 80,000 square feet distribution centre will be our first business initiative in India, and is likely to be operational by June this year” a company spokesperson confirmed Indiaretailing.
The centre will be similar to the Wal-Mart models in the US but will differ in the product category and will employ 45 people.
Ted P Huffman, director, supply chain and logistics, Bharti Wal-Mart, in a statement said, “We will be stocking grocery items and will not have items like toys and medical supplies, which we do in the US.”
According to the spokesperson, the back-end technology in the Indian centre will be similar to the US units, where goods are placed on a conveyor belt and a barcode reader dispatches them to the relevant store’s warehouse.
Wal-Mart’s cash-and-carry business, which is a 50:50 joint venture with the New Delhi-based Bharti Group, is meant for large institutional or wholesale buyers and is not for retail sales.
