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Wal-Mart sees churn at India top deck
23 Feb 2007, 0000 hrs IST, Chaitali Chakravarty,
TNN
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NEW
DELHI: Even before Wal-Mart could breathe openly on the Indian soil, its
operations head for the Indian cash & carry venture and an old Wal-Mart
hand, Randy Guttery, has quit amidst rumours of differences with
Wal-Mart’s CEO designate for India, Raj Jain. Another key executive Lance
Retig has also returned to the US.
An industry source told ET
that Mr Guttery is negotiating with German cash and carry major Metro, to head
the India operation, although this could not be independently verified. Former
Metro CEO Harsh Bahadur is leaving to head Reliance Retail’s hypermarket
vertical.
“We can
confirm that Randy has left the company for another opportunity. Lance also has
completed his assignment in India for Wal-Mart,” the Wal-Mart spokesperson
told ET. Mr Retig, the second senior executive to quit, was in-charge of
Wal-Mart’s entry strategy for India and was also the chief admin person so
far.
When speculation about Mr
Guttery’s exit from Wal-Mart was at an early stage, experts had predicted
that even if he did leave Wal-Mart, he would stay on and explore possibilities
in India. Modern retail has just begun to take off in the country, offering
tremendous scope for retail professionals.
At this stage, an experienced
expat from Wal-Mart would be a prized catch for any retailer. This apart, even
executives taking up retail assignments in India find the offers attractive.
“Salaries for senior
retail professionals in India are far better than anywhere else in the world.
Overseas retail markets are saturated with limited scope for senior
executives,” said a source.
Meanwhile, Wal-Mart Stores
vice-chairman Mike Duke is in India. While in the past, the visits of senior
Wal-Mart executives have been accompanied by fanfare and media interviews, this
time the company has tried to downplay the visit.
A Wal-Mart statement said:
“This is a routine business visit. No business announcement regarding our
specific plans will be made during this visit. Our business arrangements with
Bharti for wholesale cash-and-carry are still being discussed.
We look forward to partnering
with them to build backward linkages with farmers and suppliers through a robust
and efficient supply chain. Bharti Retail has approached us for critical
technology support in logistics, supply chain and back-end technology, all areas
where Wal-Mart is recognised as a world leader. At this stage, we are still in
preliminary
discussions.”
The company
has tried to assuage concerns about the fate of small shopkeepers and has said
that a cash & carry wholesale operation has the potential to provide much
needed support to small business owners and retailers by selling them quality
merchandise at competitive prices.
chaitali.chakravarty@timesgroup.com
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