Indian Economy: News and Discussion (Jan 1 2010)

[Vasu]

Dedicated structures like Carrefour and Walmart would definitely create an identity for themselves,large parking lots,huge shopping floors, massive billing counter arrays, making things less crowded.

yes, but how to do it within the big city with its multitude of factors, as opposed to doing it in the suburbs? I am quite sure there have been studies on how far a car-owning consumer will travel for his/her periodic shopping. Would love to know more about it.

[sanjeevpunj]

@Vasu :I saw Reliance Fresh come up near new Ashok Nagar Metro Station, but then they disbanded within a year, and shifted.Perhaps choosing right locations is the key.I also noticed that Big Bazaar was so over crowded, had there been an alternative (for eg: near the Metro Station behind GIP) the crowds would have been shared, and it would still fetch the marts enough money.A lot of market study definitely is needed for each such Mart to come up.I wouldn't mind driving a little further if I get less crowded atmosphere while shopping for weekly requirements.in fact just drive there after office on Friday evening, and then shop and surprise wife with the groceries for the week.

[amit]

A question one needs to ask is: Where is the space for huge US style Wal Marts in Indian Metros and even within half an hour drive from the city?

And Wal Mart and other large international chains survive on large wharehouse cum shopping centre type complexes. Such a model won't work simply because you don't have the space. Where are going to build a 500 lot carpark cum retail outlet in Bangalore or Calcutta?

That's the biggest competitive disadvantage a company like Wal Mart would have in India.

I think the model thar works better is the Big Bazzar type set up - a proliferation of small to mid sized shops. Near my house in Calcutta there are two within a five min drive and both are overcrowded. And I've seen some folks with on shopping cart full of only soap or shampoo. These must be small shop owner from nearby taking advantage of the arbitrage as Big Bazzar sells below MRP.

What is going to happen is Indian business models will build up - if only we let retail be without political interference. Kiranas will exist and flourish side by side with big retail.

[sanjeevpunj]

Each City has its own space conditions, surely cities like Mumbai and Kolkata would not be able to provide large spaces.Delhi on the other hand has areas where such marts can surely come up.I am not sure about Bangalore and Chennai, perhaps Chennai is a NO, and Bangalore might just have some space.

[shyam]

I am not opposed to retail chains like Reliance or even Barathi-Walmart, where WM is a junior partner. It is naive to assume that foreign investment in every sector always helps. We all in BR know what happened to Indian media after FDI is allowed in that sector. Each strategic sector can be manipulated in different ways. We know what will happen if we completely open up our education sector to foreign universities - we will see a lot of DIEs coming out, who will create different, may be more dangerous, set of problems.

All unique things you talk about in Indian markets can be handled by organizations with deep pockets in over a generation (never limit thinking to effects in 2-5 years). They won't target current consumers, but can certainly target the growing generation whose tastes can be tuned as per the services offered by these chains. They can easily undercut Indian chains for a long time till Indian chains go broke.

Theo: There is a very valid reason if the Indian political leaders were so protectionists immediately after independence. For our generation, British rule is just the story of our grandparents' generation. For them it was the life of despair and complete lack of hope. At last when they got freedom under total chaos of partition, one of their primary goal was to make sure that country is not recolonized in any way. Everything was looked with suspicion.

One of my friends is related to a royal family in Chatthisgarh. He said, when Russians were offering to build a steel plant, this royal family refused to give land in their area thinking that Russians also were some sort of colonizers, and the plant was then moved to Bhilai. This was the level of suspecion and fear people of that generation had. We may not be able to understand this now.

Only thing I would complain is that the political leadership could have freed up internal economy much earlier. Still, I see the benefits of doing things much later. We are able to see the problems with paths followed by different countries through incidences such as, fall of Asean tigers in 1997, downfall of Japanese model, failure of western credit based model, and we all know the weakness of Chinese model. Had we opened up much earlier, we might have got sucked into one these crises (atleast in the current one). Fortunately, India is the only one standing on a solid foundation in the middle of current global crisis.

[amit]

All I'm hoping is that the proliferation of low priced Chinese products is stopped. More likely than not, the larger chains will move away from sourcing a number of products from India. Competitive pricing apart, the quality of these products will claim a few lives, all for those few paise saved.

That's a real problem but hardly related to organised retail. Chinese products already proliferate the marketplace. I remember some years ago I went into a small shop which sells trinkets near my home in Calcutta. I happen to notice a small Ganesh which I instantly liked and wanted to buy to put on my car dashboard. Imagine my surprise when I learnt from the shopkeeper that Ganesh was made in China!

[Theo_Fidel]

Imagine my surprise when I learnt from the shopkeeper that Ganesh was made in China!

This has been discussed before but the reason this happens is much of these industries are still reserved for uneconomic small scale operations. This is what Shyam would want with the consequences we can see now. Indian's are such great value shoppers Wal-mart should have been an Indian company. Yet we don't have a world class retail company. Hence the fear.

See the list below. Every sector of India that is uncompetitive is on this list.
http://exim.indiamart.com/ssi-corner/

[Surya]

the mom and pop thing is overrated

who wants to go to a place where when it says it will open at 9 - there is no guarantee.

or suddenly close it because someone is not available

too fickle

do not like walmart either

although some wal marts are better than others

[shyam]

This has been discussed before but the reason this happens is much of these industries are still reserved for uneconomic small scale operations. This is what Shyam would want with the consequences we can see now.

Let me clearly say what I intended to say. Ratail is a strategic business segment for a country and India should ensure that its control remains completely inside India. Make sure that nobody can play games there. I would even suggest letting kirana shops to continue their tax evasion for their survival while tax codes are strictly enforced on organized retail. Anyday if govt. feels that some retailer is acting smart, all govt. has to do is to adjust tax code.

[svinayak]

Let me clearly say what I intended to say. Ratail is a strategic business segment for a country and India should ensure that its control remains completely inside India. Make sure that nobody can play games there. I would even suggest letting kirana shops to continue their tax evasion for their survival while tax codes are strictly enforced on organized retail. Anyday if govt. feels that some retailer is acting smart, all govt. has to do is to adjust tax code.

Tax only the MNCs so that Indian owners survives

[Neshant]

The retailer - which connects a producer to the consumers - is the most critical link in the production-consumption chain. You can produce as much as you want, or you can consume as much as you like, but a powerful retailer has the power to decide how those two should be connected. This is also the reason why global powers always take extreme steps to control global trade and not production or consumption. Giving that critical part to a foreign player with huge muscle is akin to giving your balls to somebody for massaging. Initially he may massage so that you feel great, but later if he decides to squeeze, you have no choice but yield to his demands.

Nice analogy with the b@lls.

I agree 100%.

I'd also add there is little in the way of market share that Indian companies can gain in foreign lands unlike western companies which can come right in and take a lion share of any country's market. Look at the soft drink sector - not a single major Indian producer that can go global.

Walmart has a joint venture with Bharati yet is not interested in growing with an Indian partner. It wants to setup a monopoly - squeezing profit margins of producers and importing a boatloads of crap from China. Unlike the US, India cannot print and devalue its way out of a foreign deficit so lets be careful about importing the Walmart economic model.

What I suggest is a balanced mix of small (60%), medium (25%) and large (15%) companies and it should be setup on the franchise model which maximizes local participation. That ensures competition without creating a monopoly.

[Theo_Fidel]

All we have done is prevent an Indian Retail giant from forming. Whats this advocacy for tax breaks! Who exactly is going to pay for all that infrastructure.

I wish half the Poti Kaddai's in my neighborhood would shut down. They dump their trash on the street, Illegally park vehicles, put up these atrocious signs everywhere, blare music on every occasion, even store bulk goods such as sand right on the street. I saw one once the brought in two cows as a 'puniyam', left them parked there to defecate on the street right in front of a pharmacy. The pile of cow patti's were still there 2 weeks later. Many of them bribe the linemen to get free power, free water, even free security. You go a talk to them and invariably they have the wrong item but refuse to admit it. No you are the fool and they know every thing.

Have some confidence folks. Even Pepsi and Mastercard is run by a Indian. We need an organized retail sector. The chaos that exists now must end at some point. It is so wasteful.

[shyam]

Have some confidence folks. Even Pepsi and Mastercard is run by a Indian.

MNCs may be run by Indians (including Citi Bank), but realize that they don't own those institutions but are talents for hire. The real power lies elsewhere and Indians have not penetrated that yet. One curious coincidence I noted was that Vodaphone was headed by an Indian, Arun Sarin, till it established its Indian operation through acquisition of Hutch(?). After that the head of that company changed. I don't know if Arun was made the CEO to penetrate Indian market or there was any real good reason for his exit. Wall Street has many Indians who make a lot of news. After some analysis one can figure out that they are all just hired talents and do not really have any control, nor have influence to make any changes.

One last opinion on this topic in this thread. Never ever, I repeat never ever, forget that we were colonized for about 200 years by people who came to trade with us. We got freedom because of the folly of the colonizers (WW-II).

[Hari Seldon]

^^^ Good points.

Control of strategic sectors should be retained within India as far as possible - by insisting on JVs, having Indian units spun off and listed on Indian bourses under law, ensuring major part of value sourced and captured remains within the country by writing the same into binding contract, etc.

Market access shouldn't be given cheap. Gawd only knows how much high-browish high drama the west did with us sdre slobs back in the 50s, 60s and 70s regarding texitile import quotas. Its no secret that neither side of the atlantic is in a hurry to release its hold on farm subsidies etc in the homeland while insisting we open our agro-sectors to unbridled imports. And so on.

Its critical, GOI goes about liberalising desi sectors with a long-term view of value-capture and supply side control in mind.

[Theo_Fidel]

One last opinion on this topic in this thread. Never ever, I repeat never ever, forget that we were colonized for about 200 years by people who came to trade with us. We got freedom because of the folly of the colonizers (WW-II).

This is might be a mis-reading of history.

There was resistance even then to allowing the traders in. Arungazeb (Much hated on BR) successfully pushed out most of the foreign traders. He should be a hero right. Instead of making India prosperous it actually impoverished the country. Indian products from spices to textiles to jewelry to grain were much in demand around the world. Yet there were no Indian traders available to supply them to Europe, Americas and even the East.

With our wealth and products we should have colonized the west. Yet we turned inwards and lost the race.

If you are 30 Kg weakling no amount of high walls or locked doors will protect you.

I believe Indians can win this game. Despite our history fear does not serve us well.

[svinayak]

All we have done is prevent an Indian Retail giant from forming. Whats this advocacy for tax breaks! Who exactly is going to pay for all that infrastructure.

First create a monopoly for Indian gaints and then later open it for MNCs

Have some confidence folks. Even Pepsi and Mastercard is run by a Indian. We need an organized retail sector. The chaos that exists now must end at some point. It is so wasteful.

Running any MNCs by an Indian does not matter. It is the ownership and what is the world view which is important.
Indian MNC will look at the rest of the world as it market.

[svinayak]

Indian products from spices to textiles to jewelry to grain were much in demand around the world. Yet there were no Indian traders available to supply them to Europe, Americas and even the East.

With our wealth and products we should have colonized the west. Yet we turned inwards and lost the race.

If you are 30 Kg weakling no amount of high walls or locked doors will protect you.

I believe Indians can win this game. Despite our history fear does not serve us well.

India lost the control of the seas and the trading routes to other countries including access to foriegn market. That led to improvisation of India.
That is what India needs to protect

Land routes were closed for India and Indian traders were forced out from central asia and other regions in the last 500 years before the British came in.

Indian system is different from the other systems of colonisation.

[Prem]

Even though the numbers are way offff and they don seem to know the difference between Billion and Trillion , still it gives significant clue about medium term trajectory of saving and its effect on investment and economic growth.

NEW DELHI: India may takeover the US in terms of households savings by 2020, touching the USD 5 trillion mark, as the growing economy would boost incomes of people, a study has said. "The household savings rate of 33.4 per cent would translate into incremental savings of USD 5 trillion over the next decade with growing incomes of Indian households," Assocham President Swati A Piramal said in a statement. Currently, the size of Indian household savings is over USD 330 billion, according to a study jointly done by Assocham and PricehWaterhouse Coopers. Indian households have traditionally preferred safety of bank deposits and government saving schemes. Less than 10 per cent of their investments are in other financial assets like shares, debenture and mutual funds, which is low as compared to some of the developed economies, Piramal said. "Given the quantum of savings, the need to mobilise savings into productive channels and the opportunity for financial intermediation, the next decade will be an opportunity of a lifetime for Indian capital markets," the study said.

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/per ... rticleshow[/b]/6923550.cms

[Theo_Fidel]

India lost the control of the seas and the trading routes to other countries including access to foriegn market. That led to improvisation of India.
That is what India needs to protect

We never had it to lose it. To be honest we still don't have it and here we are trying to lock the doors again.

[Theo_Fidel]

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/artic ... -2,00.html

Raising India: Why More Infrastructure Isn't Enough

Adani made the most of it. In 1998 he built a new jetty with four multipurpose berths for handling bulk cargo. By 2003 he had added a container terminal and a 40-mile railway linked to the national network. Mundra is now India's largest private port, capable of handling 100 million tons of cargo a year and diverting business from much larger terminals like Mumbai. Mundra also became a base for Adani's expansion into the much more lucrative markets for coal and power plants.

Last July, investment banks including Morgan Stanley and Merrill Lynch bought 8% of Adani Enterprises for $586 million, a deal that values the company at more than $7 billion.

This gold rush, like that of the U.S., is powered by risk-taking, optimism and opportunism. It's a source of constant conflict and great contradictions, explaining why gleaming highways rise up effortlessly while decent sewer lines do not. There's a risk that infrastructure asset bubbles will form--overfunded, underused toll roads, for instance--while basic services languish. How this tension is resolved will determine what kind of economic superpower India will become.

India was once infamous for state control, but when the door to entrepreneurs finally opened, newcomers like Adani walked in. His 4,620-MW plant at Mundra is operated under a public-private partnership: 70% of the power is committed to state utilities, while 20% goes to long-term purchase agreements with special economic zones. The rest can be sold at market price. Unless you completely goof up on fuel, Adani says, it's a sure bet. "From the first day that we start generating, we start making money," he says.

Another big entrepreneur, G.M. Rao, moved from power to airports. He grew up in the village of Rajam, in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh. The son of a gold and jute trader, Rao tried various businesses before moving into infrastructure after India liberalized the power sector in 1998. Speaking from his headquarters at the Delhi airport in a conference room named for Neil Armstrong, Rao describes how his company, GMR, won the bid to build the Hyderabad airport despite never before having bid for, let alone built, an airport.

The private-infrastructure kings, for all their ingenuity and enterprise, are realizing the limits of their power. Adani can build power plants, but he found himself humbled by the challenge of improving Mundra's school system and delivering health care for the elderly. "To privatize everything in the social sector is not advisable totally," he says. "It is not a businessmaking game." For India, there is still the old business of nation-building, and for that there is no substitute.

[putnanja]

No import of U.S. dairy products for now

NEW DELHI: India has an “open mind,” but for now, it has held back permission to the United States for accessing Indian markets for U.S. dairy products, which may be made from the milk of cattle fed with feeds produced from internal organs, blood meal and tissues of ruminant origin or those that may contain animal rennet.

...
...
Drawing a parallel with the Codex Alimentarius-recognised Islamic and Jewish dietary code, which is applicable to Halal and Kosher foods, the Indian side held that religious sentiments would not allow for the import of dairy products such as cheese that were manufactured from the milk of cattle fed on blood meal and tissues of ruminant origin or those which contain animal rennet and are unlabelled.

The Codex Alimentarius is a collection of internationally recognised standards, codes of practice, guidelines and other recommendations relating to foods, food production and food safety developed by the Food and Agriculture Organisation and the World Health Organisation. It recognises religious and cultural sensitivities.

...
...
The U.S. side is believed to have invoked scientific studies to suggest that the blood meal and tissues of ruminant origin in the cattle feed get absorbed into their system in three months, while the Indian side wanted Americans to certify that their animals had “never” been fed on a non-vegetarian diet as mentioned above or with beef.

When asked about the Indian position, Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar — who headed the negotiations with U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack — said: “We have an open mind. They say that it doesn't affect the animal's milk. We have told the Americans to come up with their scientific studies, which would be scrutinised by our scientific community. As religious sentiments are involved, we have to be cautious. [But] we are open to their scientific studies.”

India imports dairy products from New Zealand and Australia.

[svinayak]

India lost the control of the seas and the trading routes to other countries including access to foriegn market. That led to improvisation of India.
That is what India needs to protect

We never had it to lose it. To be honest we still don't have it and here we are trying to lock the doors again.

In a way you are right.
But now we set the rules of the game but out leadership does not have in them to think like this.
A good history will be by http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fernand_Braudel to learn what really happened in the past

[Ambar]

First create a monopoly for Indian gaints and then later open it for MNCs

.

You mean the way we did it during the license raj? We all know how well that worked. Trouble with all these arguments of protecting the 'Indian giants' is just that, 'protecting the Indian GIANTS' at the cost of little joes like me. Who really benefited during the license raj days? The rich industrialists who had the monopoly of the market despite low capital investment towards development year on year,politicians and bureaucrats who were bribed to the brim to get around nutty regulations and leaders of labor unions who played the role of Pakis to a 'T'.

Someone mentioned Indian soft drink companies and how they could not penetrate markets outside India.Well, forget about penetrating markets outside India, they did not have the gall to stick around and compete with Pepsi and Coke for 3 years in their own backyards! Chauhan brothers had a bevy of great products that could have withstood the marketing juggernaut of yankee cola giants, but they did not have the stomach to 'compete' as competition is something no domestic producer liked/had during the regulation days.

Honestly, we are make a mountain out of a molehill here. Walmarts/Costcos can never operate in their American avatar while in Indian markets.The biggest Walmarts are the size of a small village in India,and there is no ways they can get such pieces of real estate in suburbs. Besides, who in their right mind would want to drive 40 kms in thick traffic to get a cart of groceries?

[joshvajohn]

'10% inflation means the economy is overheating'
http://www.rediff.com/business/intervie ... 101115.htm

[amit]

You mean the way we did it during the license raj? We all know how well that worked. Trouble with all these arguments of protecting the 'Indian giants' is just that, 'protecting the Indian GIANTS' at the cost of little joes like me. Who really benefited during the license raj days? The rich industrialists who had the monopoly of the market despite low capital investment towards development year on year,politicians and bureaucrats who were bribed to the brim to get around nutty regulations and leaders of labor unions who played the role of Pakis to a 'T'.

Someone mentioned Indian soft drink companies and how they could not penetrate markets outside India.Well, forget about penetrating markets outside India, they did not have the gall to stick around and compete with Pepsi and Coke for 3 years in their own backyards! Chauhan brothers had a bevy of great products that could have withstood the marketing juggernaut of yankee cola giants, but they did not have the stomach to 'compete' as competition is something no domestic producer liked/had during the regulation days.

Honestly, we are make a mountain out of a molehill here. Walmarts/Costcos can never operate in their American avatar while in Indian markets.The biggest Walmarts are the size of a small village in India,and there is no ways they can get such pieces of real estate in suburbs. Besides, who in their right mind would want to drive 40 kms in thick traffic to get a cart of groceries?

Ambar,

Great post.

I'm sorry to say this but all this talk about need to protect this sector and that is nothing but bull. It presupposes a deep sense of inferiority complex which feels that Indians (meaning Indian companies) are not up to the task of competing with foreign companies in Indian markets.

Yet all available evidence points exactly in the opposite direction. It's the multinationals that find it difficult to compete with savvy Indian companies. And this is not just a post-liberalization phenomenon.

I think folks here have forgotten the great saga of Nirma vs Hindustan Lever in the 1980s. A small company founded by a chemist Karsanbhai Patel took on Hindustan Lever and won. Read about it here.

More recently, another random example is in the two-wheeler market. Local manufactures are doing pretty well in the face of international competition aren't they. In the mobile market, has Bharti been overawed competing with Vodafone who bought up Hutch to be pitched forked right at the top end of the market in terms of market share?

And your point about nurturing duds is spot on. Another trivia. In 1948 two motor car assembly plants were set up in what was then the Third World. One was in India with technology from Austin Morris in the form of Hindustan Motors and the other was with General Motors technology in Japan for Toyota Motors. I guess I don't need to tell anyone what protectionism did to one company and what free market and global competition did to the other.

Coming back to specific case of retail, I really don't understand this fear that big retail (mean the devious Wal Mart types) will do some kind of social engineering and change the buying habits of consumers within one generation. How is this supposed to work in the retail space? If consumers get used to going to a centralised shop and buy all their groceries, plus other necessities, is that something evil and devious? That would benefit the Indian retail companies as well wouldn't it?

Also like I wrote in a previous post and which you also mentioned in your post, there is no way that Wal Mart or other big players can reproduce the way they do business in the US. The whole business model depends on huge warehouse cum shopping stores with big car parks. Where are you gong get such real estate in India?

No I think the model that will work in India is small outlets like the Big Bazzar ones or anchor stores within shopping malls. Wal Mart business model is not cut out for that kind of operations, one reason that they have been a failure in their international ventures (that is comparison to their US operations).

Actually I think if the local Indian retail companies were given a free hand they would be very difficult to dislodge by foreign competition. The other point about Indian retail companies venturing abroad. Why should they do so, when there is so much latent demand within the country? Wal Mart ventured out of the US long after they exhausted their growth opportunity in the US. And with 1.1 billion people and growing at such a fast rate, the Indian retail market potential and growth is going to be faster than that in the US.

[manish]

And your point about nurturing duds is spot on. Another trivia. In 1948 two motor car assembly plants were set up in what was then the Third World. One was in India with technology from Austin Morris in the form of Hindustan Motors and the other was with General Motors technology in Japan for Toyota Motors. I guess I don't need to tell anyone what protectionism did to one company and what free market and global competition did to the other.

amit ji, all valid points, but I have minor nitpick wrt the Toyota example. Japanese auto market has never been too open - IMHO its development is moreorless similar to the way export focused industries developed in economies around the world including China (mfg) and India (IT). The need to compete in an open market abroad is what forced these into a developmental path.

Even to this day you hear companies from EU/US complaining bitterly about access to the Japanese home market. The market share of foreign players is negligible there mainly due to the strong protectionist policies.

[sanjeevpunj]

Chanced upon this disclosure by Ratan Tata. http://www.ndtv.com/article/india/wante ... tata-66563

I admire Ratan Tata for having refused to bribe the minister to set up an Airline.I wonder who the minister was though? Tata is so guarded on the subject, he didnt disclose the name.10-12 years ago I do remember that Kashmiri guy Ghulam Nabi Azad as having something to do with Civil Aviation.He was also Minister of Parliamentary Affairs and Civil Aviation during the tenure of Narasimha Rao.
Any ideas?

[harbans]

Ambar and Amit ji, absolutely well said. Time to rubbish these strains of thought if one may call it so. One creates giants by them competing. Not getting special treatment. One creates weaklings by that process. Only those that seek entitlement are happy with privilege. The real giant competes, struggles and then comes up.

[Abhijeet]

Out of curiosity, what is strategic about the retail sector? I see that claim posted here repeatedly without explanation, but to me it doesn't seem to make sense.

Retail is hardly a natural monopoly, or something that can't profitably accommodate dozens of large players. So what is the fear exactly?

[Abhijeet]

I think there are two different things that are perhaps being confused: small or large companies (Indian or foreign), and small or large format stores.

Large companies can (and in India, will probably need to) operate small-format stores -- at least, smaller format than their typical international stores. However, they can still bring all their supply chain and technology expertise to bear in running those stores. Those stores will be better stocked, better priced, and overall serve consumers better, than the millions of subsistence retailers operating in India.

Indian chains like Big Bazaar are incredibly good at stocking every item under the sun in a smaller footprint than a US Walmart. They offer great variety, great prices, and an excellent shopping experience. We need hundreds of thousands of such stores in India. Unfortunately -- whether due to capital scarcity or caution -- even large cities in India have one or perhaps two Big Bazaars to serve them. We need many more of the same types of stores at tens of points across every city in India.

I've visited a couple of Big Bazaar stores in malls. I think malls are a good location for operating relatively large stores in the heart of Indian cities.

[sanjeevpunj]

I think there are two different things that are perhaps being confused: small or large companies (Indian or foreign), and small or large format stores.

Large companies can (and in India, will probably need to) operate small-format stores -- at least, smaller format than their typical international stores. However, they can still bring all their supply chain and technology expertise to bear in running those stores. Those stores will be better stocked, better priced, and overall serve consumers better, than the millions of subsistence retailers operating in India.

Indian chains like Big Bazaar are incredibly good at stocking every item under the sun in a smaller footprint than a US Walmart. They offer great variety, great prices, and an excellent shopping experience. We need hundreds of thousands of such stores in India.....................

My experience with Big Bazaar has been rather unpleasant.Particularly due to it being so overcrowded.I am referring to the one in GIP,Sector 18,NOIDA. They definitely need more space than that.yes we do need more marts so that the crowd gets well divided and there is fair competition too.

[ArmenT]

Honestly, we are make a mountain out of a molehill here. Walmarts/Costcos can never operate in their American avatar while in Indian markets.The biggest Walmarts are the size of a small village in India,and there is no ways they can get such pieces of real estate in suburbs. Besides, who in their right mind would want to drive 40 kms in thick traffic to get a cart of groceries?

Can't they build vertically, as is done with department stores in Europe, Chicago or NYC? Or is it still much harder to get building permits in India?

[sanjeevpunj]

Many Malls in UAE are vertically oriented, at least three or four floors. I dont see why we cant do that in India. It is already happening.

[Theo_Fidel]

Don't know about others but the Vadapalani Big Bazaar in Chennai where I shop occasionally, (Claim to fame of 1 lakh items )) has planned for this. See the rebar already in place for atleast 3 more storeys. FSI permitting.

You don't put in columns that hefty for anything less.



Look at those crowds. Let me tell you that is a very good day. I have seen lines around the block on festival days. The demand for organized retail is intense in most of India. The demand for potti kadais not so much.

[svinayak]

You mean the way we did it during the license raj? We all know how well that worked.

We have passed that discussion in BRF. We have to think of advantage for India and Tata Motors is one example.

[sanjeevpunj]

Yes indeed they do have the infrastructure to build at least two floors.Must be waiting for sales to go up.

[Theo_Fidel]

The sums involved in the Indian economy continue to stagger me.

Did we really hock the family jewels for $900 million dollars less than 20 years ago.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-11-1 ... upees.html

Vodafone Must Pay $554 Million Deposit in Tax Dispute, Indian Court Rules

A Supreme Court panel headed by Chief Justice S.H. Kapadia told Vodafone today it has to set aside 25 billion rupees ($554 million) with the court within three weeks and submit bank guarantees for 85 billion rupees in eight weeks. India is seeking 112 billion rupees on Vodafone’s purchase of Hutchison Whampoa Ltd.’s local mobile-phone unit three years ago.

No tax attorney but this sounds BS to me. Pay up. BTW Vodafone is Lichtenstein Tax dodge company. Pays no tax at all to anyone.

Vodafone doesn’t owe the Indian government taxes because the transaction was conducted offshore, with Vodafone’s Dutch subsidiary, Vodafone International Holdings BV, acquiring CGP Ltd., a Cayman Islands holding company controlled by Hong Kong- based Hutchison, the company said.

Looks like it being taken to the cleaners anyway. So much for living in terror of the world.

When Vodafone announced its acquisition of Hutchison Essar shares, the British phone company’s chief executive officer at the time, Arun Sarin, said he planned to make the India telecommunications venture a “raging success.” Instead, the company in May took a $3.3 billion charge for the Indian unit, citing “intense price competition.”

Vodafone competes against 14 operators in the world’s second-largest market for mobile phone customers. Vodafone Essar Ltd., Vodafone’s India unit, is the nation’s third-largest operator, after Bharti Airtel Ltd. and Reliance Communications Ltd., with 114 million customers and a 17 percent share of the market at the end of August, according to data from India’s telecommunications regulator.

[Theo_Fidel]

http://www.rediff.com/business/report/i ... 101115.htm

India's forex reserves cross $300 billion

The last time reserves were above $300 billion was in August 2008. They had crossed $300 billion for the first time at the end of February 2008. The peak of $316.17 billion was reported in May 2008, according to Bloomberg data.

[ramana]

But $ is not worth what it was in August 2008!

[amdavadi]

^^^ soon it will be worth lot less.....credit goes to chi-panda...