Germany's largest retailer Metro intends to open as many as 50 wholesale outlets in India in the next five years as part of an expansion push in Asia, as sales at home stagnate.
Metro chief executive Eckhard Cordes told livemint.com India, along with China and Russia constituted the company's top three markets for the coming years.
Metro currently has six wholesale outlets in India since introducing the format to the country in 2003.
It will be in competition with the likes of US retail giant Walmart, which plans to open up to 12 cash and carry outlets in the country this year, and UK-based retailer Tesco, which opened its first cash and carry outlet in New Delhi in January.
"Our target of 50 stores by 2015 won't be the end, we definitely see a potential for a three-digit number for our stores here," Cordes told the website without specifying any details. "I think the market potential for cash-and-carry business in India, if you do it right, is huge."
"In the years to come, we will not distribute our investments for store openings evenly across the globe, there will be a clear focus on Asia plus comparable countries," he added.
The development of cash and carry outlets in India is attractive to retailers as it would position them to develop multi-brand retail outlets there should the government decide to remove current restrictions on foreign ownership in the sector.
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