Bharti in talks with Tesco, Wal-Mart on retail foray

Bharti Enterprises on Monday said it is in talks with top global retailers Wal-Mart and Tesco for foraying into the food and grocery retail business sector.

"We are exploring fresh avenues and are in talks with the top retailers," said Sunil Mittal, chairman and managing director, Bharti Enterprises.

Mittal, however, said that the current Foreign Direct Investment guidelines in retail were "pretty restrictive", adding that it is likely to take "months before anything is finalised" on the company's plans for the retail sector. Tesco, the world's largest grocery retailer, is already a customer of Bharti Group agriculture products company Fieldfresh Foods - a joint venture with the El Rothschild Group. Replying to a query, Mittal added that "Bharti recently had a small consignment to Tesco".

The move to enter the retail segment is seen as part of the company's planned entry into the agri-commodities and insurance businesses. Last year, Bharti had announced plans to set up a life insurance venture in association with AXA Asia Pacific Holdings.

Mittal also confirmed that Bharti Teletech had bid for Telecom Consultants India Ltd's (TCIL) 30 per cent stake in Bharti Hexacom. If successful, the Bharti Group will have over 95 per cent stake in Bharti Hexacom.

"TCIL wants to sell its stake in Hexacom. They had put out a tender invitation and we are participating in it," Mittal said, adding that Bharti would not quote an "astronomical amount" to acquire an additional 30 per cent stake.

The Bharti group owns a majority stake in Hexacom, which is the largest mobile service provider in Rajasthan, after picking up 67.5 per cent stake in Hexacom in 2004 for Rs 430 crore from the Shyam Telecom.