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On the other hand, another company which must have been watching all these developments very keenly is Wal-Mart, which is set to enter India in March 2008. Wal-Mart tied up with the Bharti Group earlier this year for its India foray. International players like Tesco
have already deferred their India entry plans in the wake of the stiff opposition from small traders and some political corners.

Amongst all this, Finance Minister, P. Chidambaram's statement, that FDI in retail is only a matter of time, seems largely out of place.

With the threat of general elections looming large on the government, thanks to its confrontation with the Left over the Nuclear Deal with USA, a relaxation in the FDI cap in retail looks like a far-fetched dream, at least in the near future.

Thus, as the Reliance Retail juggernaut hits a road-block, the future of organized retail in India still seems to be very very hazy...

Concluded.

* Contributed by: -
Shekhar Arya,
MBA 2nd Year,
Department of Management Studies, IIT Roorkee.