Wal-Mart to open cash-and-carry centre in India

New Delhi: Wal-Mart Store Inc will open its first cash-and-carry centre in India in 2009, the head of its India operations said.

Wal-Mart, which has a venture with India's Bharti Enterprises for cash-and-carry wholesale operations, had earlier said it aimed to open the first of its centres by year-end and open 10-15 centres over seven years.

'Certainly that was the initial plan,' Raj Jain said at the sidelines of a business conference. 'We still stick with that. It could be faster, it could be slower.' The first centre will be in northern India, he said.