Carrefour, one the world's
largest retail chains, is shutting its business in India less than four years
after it opened its first store in the country.
It currently operates five
cash and carry wholesale stores in India.
The French retailer has been
exiting underperforming markets, including Singapore, Malaysia and Greece,
under chief executive Georges Plassat's three-year revival plan.
It has said it wants to
focus on key markets in Europe, China and Brazil.
India opened up its
multi-brand retail sector to
foreign firms in 2012.
But it has put
pre-conditions, including those on local sourcing and infrastructure
investment, and has also left the final decision on whether to allow foreign
companies to open stores to individual state governments.
Many analysts have said the
pre-conditions have deterred foreign companies from entering the sector.
So far, only one firm - the
UK's Tesco - has announced plans to open stores in the country.
The decision to open up the
sector to foreign firms also faced political opposition at the time.
The Bharatiya Janta Party
(BJP) - which has recently formed a new government in India - had opposed the
move arguing that the arrival of big name supermarkets may hurt the small
retailers in the country.
BBC Business
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