85 774
Fashion Jobs
OLD NAVY
Assistant General Manager, Merchandising - Pheasant Run Plaza
Permanent · CHICO
OLD NAVY
Assistant General Manager, Merchandising - Merrimack Premium
Permanent · MERRIMACK
ATHLETA
Assistant General Manager - 18th & 5th
Permanent · NEW YORK
OLD NAVY
Assistant General Manager, Merchandising - Arizona Mills
Permanent · TEMPE
GAP
General Manager - Philadelphia Mills
Permanent · PHILADELPHIA
OLD NAVY
General Manager - Shops at Waldorf Center (New Store)
Permanent · WALDORF
OLD NAVY
Assistant General Manager, Merchandising - Triangle Square
Permanent · NEW YORK
OLD NAVY
Assistant General Manager, Merchandising - Northgate Mall
Permanent · CHATTANOOGA
OLD NAVY
General Manager - Coosa Town Center
Permanent · GADSDEN
OLD NAVY
General Manager - Upper Valley Plaza
Permanent · LEBANON
ATHLETA
General Manager - Issaquah Commons
Permanent · ISSAQUAH
ATHLETA
General Manager - 2nd And Pch
Permanent · LONG BEACH
BANANA REPUBLIC
Assistant General Manager - Home
Permanent · TROY
OLD NAVY
Director, CRM, Marketing
Permanent · SAN FRANCISCO
HENKEL
Senior Automation Tech
Permanent · GENEVA
ESSILORLUXOTTICA GROUP
Customer Service Representative
Permanent · EAST SYRACUSE
ESSILORLUXOTTICA GROUP
Customer Service Representative Classic Optical)
Permanent · YOUNGSTOWN
ESSILORLUXOTTICA GROUP
sr. Manager, Business Growth
Permanent · NEW YORK
ESSILORLUXOTTICA GROUP
Associate Manager, Trade Event Marketing
Permanent · DALLAS
ESSILORLUXOTTICA GROUP
Oakley - Specialized Consultant
Permanent · PEMBROKE PINES
ESSILORLUXOTTICA GROUP
Oakley - Sales Supervisor
Permanent · CAMARILLO
ESSILORLUXOTTICA GROUP
Naasc - Material Handler II (Inbound Team Lead)
Permanent · MCDONOUGH
By
Reuters
Published
Jan 18, 2011
Reading time
2 minutes
Download
Download the article
Print
Text size

Britain to push India to open up retail sector

By
Reuters
Published
Jan 18, 2011

Jan 17 - Britain will press India to open up its lucrative retail sector to foreign firms like Tesco, Business Secretary Vince Cable said on Monday, a day before he was scheduled to meet officials in New Delhi.


Tesco in Hertfordshire, England (photo by Martin Addison)

India's $450-billion retail sector is largely shut to foreign firms and is dominated by small family-run stores. But nudged by firms like Wal-Mart Stores and Carrefour, New Delhi has taken baby steps in liberalising the sector.

"I will make the case for an open market (in retail)," Cable told Reuters Insider television in an interview. "We welcome Indian companies in the UK. We hope India will welcome British companies in India."

But Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's government may find it difficult to relax rules despite its reformist intentions, given that its energies are focused on firefighting several crises including a raft of corruption cases and soaring food prices.

While advocates of the move say foreign investment in retail will improve supply chain efficiency and ease food inflation, critics worry opening up the sector could see millions of job losses among small shopkeepers who form an important voter base.

In October, Wal-Mart Chief Executive Mike Duke said he was "very positive" on the opening up of the sector, after he had met officials in India.

The US firm has a cash-and-carry operation with local partner Bharti Enterprises. Carrefour in December opened its first cash-and-carry store in India.

MORE BILATERAL TRADE

Cable, visiting India six months after Prime Minister David Cameron's trip, said bilateral trade between the two nations was not up to potential and had to grow.

"Although Britain has a very long-standing link with India, I think we accept that we've underperformed in terms of the Indian market. India is a very rapidly growing economy and we should be building our profile here," Cable said.

UK-India trade in 2008/09 stood at $12.5 billion, a sum tinier than what Britain trades with Ireland, a country with 4 million people to India's 1.2 billion.

(Editing by C.J. Kuncheria; Editing by Toby Chopra)

© Thomson Reuters 2024 All rights reserved.