Walmart India to invest Rs 3,200 crore in 3 years

​Hyderabad: Walmart India on Wednesday said it would invest about $500 million (about Rs 3,200 crore at the current exchange rate) to open another 47 stores by 2022 to take the total number of outlets to 70.  Krish Iyer, President and CEO Walmart India, said that out of the 23 B2B Cash and Carry stores, 19 have achieved break even with over a million members. The global retail giant, which opened its 23rd wholesale store in Visakhapatnam Wednesday, is in the process of setting up a second store in Visakhapatnam and discussions are underway for land. 

"A typical store needs anywhere between $9 to $10 million in terms of investment. We are planning to take the total number of stores to 70 by 2022. That is the plan and we will also have e-commerce space in all the stores. So, you can do the math. Yes, it needs $500 million," Iyer said.  Walmart India became a wholly-owned subsidiary of Walmart Inc after it severed and exited from the failed Joint Venture with Bharti Enterprises in 2014. Iyer said the company also has plans to increase fulfilment centres across the country. 

Speaking about the Vizag store, he said it had come up on 56,000 square feet and provided employment to 2,000 people directly and indirectly. "This is now the fourth store in Andhra Pradesh. This is the first store that we have opened in AP after Walmart India became a 100 per cent subsidiary. We have a plan to open another store in Visakhapatnam. We are looking for a site. We hope to sign the property in the next three to four months. It takes about three hours to open a store after we sign a property," he said. 

Iyer said the current contribution of private labels to overall sales was in single digits and he expected it to grow to about 20 per cent in the next two to three years.