US-based multinational retailing corporation Walmart, has announced its plans to open around 50 new stores in India.

The 50 new stores will be opened, across the country, over the next three-to-four years.

Majority of the stores will be located in Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand.

The retailer, which currently, has around 20 Walmart stores in India, is planning to ramp up operations in the cash-and-carry segment.

Besides Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh , there would be 10 new stores each in Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.

Apart from two new stores in Lucknow, Walmart will open new stores in Ghaziabad, Noida, Kanpur, Allahabad, Haridwar, Dehradun and Haldwani.

The opening of new stores in Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand will subsequently result into 40,000 jobs, in these two states.

The stores provide direct and indirect employment to 2,000-2,500 persons each.

Metro AG (Metro Group) and Reliance may give a little competition to Walmart, in Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand operating in the cash-and-carry format.

Cash-and-carry stores are wholesale outlets, which are only allowed to sell to retailers, canteens and hotels.

A Walmart India spokesperson, quoted saying, “Our commitment to the country is very deep and we are growing our footprints in India further by opening 50 more cash-and-carry stores in the next few years across key focus states, including AP, Telangana, UP, Uttarakhand, Haryana, Maharashtra etc.”

“Our development team is growing this store pipeline for the last couple of years and we are confident of continuing our contribution to the creation of thousands of skilled jobs, helpings Kiranas, farmers and Small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) suppliers succeed through our cash and carry business”, added the spokesperson.

Walmart has by far, developed hubs, which are its focus areas. For instance, Punjab, Haryana, UP and Uttarakhand comprise the northern cluster, the second one includes Andhra and Telangana with the third one in Maharashtra.

The company, is, however, awaiting clarity on the food retail guidelines as it does not want to limit itself to domestically produced and manufactured food products.

By Supraja