Walmart to open 10 cash and carry stores in Karnataka

Walmart India President and CEO Krish Iyer today said the company will be opening 10 cash and carry stores in Karnataka.

 "Today we signed an agreement with Karnataka government to open ten cash and carry stores in Karnataka," Iyer said.

Speaking at a session on promoting women entrepreneurship at 'Invest Karnataka 2016', he said, "Simultaneously, we have also committed for the women entrepreneurship development programme to be rolled out in the state."

 Stating that Walmart was currently running this programme on two fronts - demand side and supply side, Iyer said demand side included developing women entrepreneurs who can open kirana stores or small hotels, restaurants and dhabas to whom they will supply at low costs.

On the supply side, he said "there is big opportunity." "We already have 30 women owned businesses for merchandise and 35 women owned businesses for services from whom we source from India," he added.

He pointed out they were buying USD 20 billion worth of merchandise globally from women owned businesses. According to him, the company has created a global goal to double the current sourcing from women owned business in the next five years. 

Also, he said the company aims to promote diversity and inclusion in the existing supplier mix from both merchandise as well as professional services, and to empower nearly one million women globally.  "We are incorporating these three goals in our agenda of India," he added.