Walmart enters India; will set up hyper-giga-mega-mart halfway between Delhi and Jaipur (A satire)
------------------------------ <http://www.theunrealtimes.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/walmart-featured.jpg> Walmartpur will cater to both NCR and Jaipur In the wake of the government’s decision to permit 100% FDI in multi-brand retail, Walmart has decided to set up its first mega retail store off the Delhi-Jaipur highway, 125 kms outside Delhi –a spot that is roughly equidistant from Delhi and Jaipur. Announcing the decision, Walmart’s president for South Asian operations, Jack Krober said, “Now Delhi-ites and for that matter, even Jaipur-ites, can drive miles into the countryside and purchase all the stuff they need at unbelievably low prices – just like their American counterparts - and have an awesome experience.” Walmart initially intended to locate its first mega store somewhere inside or closer to Delhi. However, high rental rates for commercial space in the NCR region sent the retailer giant’s cost-benefit calculations soaring out of the window, ruling out even Gurgaon and Greater Noida in the process. Instead, Walmart has purchased 5 villages – Mataili Khemchand, Goriyar Patti Srimata, Dimia Chattarjan, Bhamra Lagan, Kutti Hasaili, Chikni Dumaria – on either side of the Haryana-Rajasthan border at dirt cheap prices. The entire complex, spread over 25,000 acres, will now be called Walmartpur, and will transform the local rural agrarian economy into a quasi urbanized, retail service based one. Denizens of the villages subsumed into Walmartpur will work as Walmart employees but will get paid through MGNREGA – the Central Government scheme that guarantees 100 days work for rural laborers. “That should help us mark down prices by another 10 basis points. Local kirana shopkeepers will be hired as billing agents while the Gram Panchayat mukhiya, Ganga Prasad Chaudhri, will double up as the store’s chief of security,” observed store manager, Dick Walton. The giant store will offer several million units of branded and unbranded FMCG products at mind-boggling discounts. The entire complex will be so huge that employees will dwell in in-store two-bed room apartments doubling up as shelves during working hours. Attendants will move from shelf to shelf on TVS scooties, and janitors will mop the floors on skates. The retail giant has plans for an in-store railway station and is also lobbying with Delhi Metro Authority to extend the metro from Gurgaon to Walmartpur. Sector analysts contend that Walmart’s megastore-deep discount model offers the average Delhiite a compelling alternative to the local kirana. “The local kirana may offer convenience of access, home-delivery and credit but if the average Delhi housewife does her math, she will realize that shopping from Walmart’s mega store is more economical. For instance, a Karol Bagh behenji who makes weekly purchases worth Rs.300 from the local kirana can save a whopping Rs. 10,000 annually by the simple expedient of buying in advance for 3 months of household consumption from Walmartpur. The savings can further go up by another Rs.500 per annum if behenji commutes by metro till Gurgaon and then takes a bus to Walmartpur instead of commuting all the way on her 2 wheeler or Nano,” wrote KPMG’s retail sector analyst, Raghib Ahmed, in a research note titled “Walmartization of Indian retail: A Perspective”. The kirana owners, however, seem unperturbed by these developments. Said Kishenchand Agarwal, an IIPM-alumnus turned kirana shop owner, “In the retail business, location takes precedence over everything, including economies of scale.” Agarwal has nevertheless renamed his shop “Agar Walmart” from “Agarwal da kirana” to be on the safe side. http://www.theunrealtimes.com/2011/11/30/walmart-enters-india-will-set-up-hyper-giga-mega-mart-halfway-between-delhi-and-jaipur/ -- With best wishes S Chander
