Metro Cash & Carry, an international self-service wholesale retailer, would initially make its two wholesale distribution centres at Zirakpur and Ludhiana operational by the middle of 2011. This was announced by the Metro Cash & Carry CEO Asia Frans Muller, in a meeting with Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal.
He also assured the Chief Minister that the group would also launch the other two distribution centres at Patiala and Jalandhar by the end of year 2011. A six-member delegation led by Muller apprised the Chief Minister that these centres would give a push for the modern practices in the development of the state with the focus on agriculture development and employment generation in allied farming.
Muller said that the company was also contemplating to establish two more such centres at Bathinda and Amritsar. He also revealed that the group had already set up two such distribution centres each at Hyderabad, Bangalore besides one each at Kolkata and Mumbai, further adding he said perhaps this was the first ever biggest investment in the country by the internationally acclaimed wholesale corporate house.
Muller pointed out that these ventures across the state would result in creation of over 1,000 jobs for local youth and impart training in modern management practices and logistics besides sourcing vegetables, fruits and other fresh items directly from local farmers thereby eliminating the middleman, according to the company’s committed philosophy to supplement the income of the farmers.