No word on Bharti’s retail partner yet

LUDHIANA: With just a few days to go for Bharti’s retail plan announcement, group chairman Sunil Bharti Mittal is keeping everyone guessing about the joint venture partner.

Although Mittal had indicated recently that UK’s Tesco would be the preferred joint venture partner for Bharti’s retail project, on Wednesday, he said discussions were still on with three international players - Tesco (UK), Walmart (US) and Carrefour (France).

“The JV partner could be any of these three,” and an announcement is likely by the first week of October, he said on the sidelines of the inauguration of the R&D centre of FieldFresh in Ludhiana. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh inaugurated the R&D centre - FieldFresh Agriculture Centre of Excellence - here on Wednesday.

While the rules on FDI in retail sector only allow the franchise route for the Bharti JV project, the group is in the process of striking alliances for its agri-business, FieldFresh Foods, which is a joint venture with UK’s financial service giant, Rothschild. Even as the vision for the FieldFresh project is to link India’s fields with the world, domestic alliances are also big on the company’s agenda.

FieldFresh is open to supplying to all retail chains, according to FieldFresh director Rakesh Bharti Mittal. Among others, FieldFresh is likely to supply vegetables and fruits to Pantaloon and Mukesh Ambani’s retail venture.

FieldFresh is expected to export its products to major retail chains by February 2007. Pilots are currently on with some of them, including Tesco and Marks & Spencer, it is learnt. The target destinations for FieldFresh’s exports include the UK, the US and the Middle-East.

After the inauguration of the FieldFresh R&D centre, Sunil Bharti Mittal announced that the agri-project would over a period of time be spread across the country. While currently FieldFresh has over 4,000 acres under cultivation in Punjab, and growing partnerships in Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Uttaranchal, talks are on with the state governments of Bihar and West Bengal for taking the agri-project there too. Also, from the current 4,000 acres, there are plans to increase the cultivation area to 20,000 acres in the near future.

FieldFresh has an initial investment outlay of $50 million. According to Mittal, it is “effort intensive,” rather than a capital intensive business.