Bharti Walmart in talks with banks for loans to fund expansion

When contacted,a Bharti Walmart Spokesperson confirmed that the firm is looking to raise funds but declined to comment on the specifics.

“The money is being raised for investing in building of an efficient back-end infrastructure and for our Best Price Modern Wholesale Cash and Carry store roll-out programme,” the spokesperson said in a statement.

As per the company’s website,the 50:50 JV that runs wholesale stores under the Best Price Modern Wholesale brand,is expected to open a total of 12-15 stores in India in 2012.

Last year,the company had stated that it was investing about USD 7 million per store to add 12 new wholesale stores across India by end of 2011.

As per estimates,the company’s plans to add up to 15 stores this year could entail an investment of over USD 100 million.

The company operates 17 Best Price Modern Wholesale stores in Amritsar,Zirakpur,Jalandhar,Kota,Bhopal,Ludhiana,Raipur,Indore,Vijayawada,Meerut,Agra,Lucknow,Jammu,Guntur,Aurangabad,Bhatinda and Amravati.

The company focuses on business-to-business wholesale cash-and-carry stores and back-end supply chain management operations in India.