Tesco has begun talks with Indian giant Tata Group to form a retail joint venture to break into the country’s retail market. Tesco has been desperate to find a local partner in India after losing out to Wal-Mart to tie-up with Bharti Enterprises. Tata had previously said it was not in talks about a move into food retailing.

Krishna Kumar, Director of Strategy at Tata Group, said: “We may have had some exploratory discussions with Tesco but that does not mean we have made any decisions on either strategy or partner”. He said the talks are not exclusive and Tesco is in discussions with other potential partners.

Tata operates 21 home and apparel stores under the Westside brand, through its Trent retailing division.

NamNews - Friday 12th January 2007

 

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