Bharti will invest $2.5 billion in JV deal with Wal-Mart

Well, the Bharti Group finally announced its plans for its joint retail venture with Wal-Mart. According to the announcement, Bharti will invest $2.5 billion by 2015 to open a chain of retail stores across major cities in India. Bharti Entreprises JMD Rajan Bharti Mittal, said that "After revolutionising the Indian telecom sector, retail will be the next big focus area for Bharti... the investment would be $2-2.5 billion.” The company would also be opening multi-format stores in cities with populations of around 1 million. Bharti will be covering an estimated 10 million sq ft of retail space, and employ 60,000 people over the next few years. the company's first store will open in the first quarter of 2008.