Walmart Asia president Dirk Van den Berghe with IT minister K T Rama Rao in city on Saturday

HYDERABAD: Walmart India Private Limited , a wholly owned subsidiary of retail behemoth Walmart Stores Inc , on Saturday inked an agreement with the Telangana government to set up 10 wholesale stores in the state over a span of five to seven years. Walmart currently has one store in Hyderabad.

While the company did not reveal the exact quantum of investments it plans to pump into the state, Walmart India president and CEO Krish Iyer said the company invests, on an average, $10-12 million per store spread over 50,000 to 60,000 sft. Iyer pointed out that of the 10 new stores in Telangana, four will come up in Hyderabad region while the rest will be in other parts of the state.

Iyer said that the company has identified four sites in Hyderabad and is also in the process of finalizing sites in Warangal, Karimnagar and Nizamabad , among others.

"With every store we will create direct and indirect employment for about 2,000 people in the state. We will work with kirana shops, mom and pop shops, hotels, restaurants, caterers, offices and institutions in helping them grow their business by selling them merchandise of the highest quality at the lowest prices. We source over 97% of our products from within the country and nearly 15% of our merchandise gets sourced from this region," Iyer said.

Apart from expanding its retail footprint in the state by opening 10 stores, the company also plans to work with small farmers and women in the area of entrepreneurship and economic development.

