Wal-Mart Enters $300 Billion Indian Retail Market

From today's WSJ:

NEW DELHI -- Wal-Mart took a stride toward establishing international operations capable of fueling its sales growth as its U.S. operations mature, signing a long-awaited joint-venture pact with Bharti Enterprises to sell goods to small retailers, manufacturers and farmers in India.

Wal-Mart, the world's largest retailer, and many of its largest competitors long have coveted access to India, which boasts a $300 billion retail industry made up almost entirely of mom-and-pop shops. Indian rules don't allow multiple-brand retailers such as Wal-Mart to sell directly to consumers, but they can run wholesale operations and provide back-end support to Indian retailers.

The 50-50 joint venture, Bharti Wal-Mart, will provide wholesale cash-and-carry and back-end supply-chain management operations in the country, the companies said. Bharti Wal-Mart will also supply retailers such as Bharti Retail, a unit of Bharti Enterprises that is setting up a separate, wholly owned retail chain in India that will sell directly to the end consumer.

Bharti Wal-Mart will launch its first store by the end of 2008 and will open up to 15 such facilities over the next seven years, employing about 5,000 people, the companies said. A typical store will stand between 50,000 and 100,000 square feet and sell a wide range of fruits and vegetables, groceries and staples, stationery, footwear, clothing, consumer durables and other general merchandise items, the companies said.

Bottom Line: American companies like AOL, Yahoo, Microsoft, Dell and Google employ thousands of Indians in call centers and research centers in India allowing these American companies to become larger, stronger and more efficient, creating more jobs in the U.S. (and India) for these companies, and these jobs in India are allowing thousands or millions of Indians to enter the middle class. Then American companies like Starbucks, Foot Locker, Domino's Pizza and Wal-Mart sell low-priced products to millions of middle-class Indians, allowing these companies to become larger, stronger and more efficient, creating more jobs in the U.S. (and India), and increasing the standard of living in India.

Seems like thousands, no probably millions, of voluntary win-win deals to me. Trade works. America is better off trading with India, and India is better off trading with the U.S.