Last week, Walmart & Bharti announced that they will part ways. Among the tons of coverage, I found this interesting stat in a piece of news article.
So, 4 of the 5 top retailers in India are making losses. The fifth one, Big Bazaar (Future Value Retail), recently sold off its lifestyle (apparel) business to concentrate on its so called value business.
Anyways, the best performer among the above is Reliance, who grew net sales 36% and reduced losses by 80%. Walmart, unfortunately, is the worst performer. In pursuit of topline, they made humungous losses. Infact, while every one was trimming losses, while growing topline, they are the one who made a higher net loss in 2013 (Rs.538 crore, up 37% over 2012)!
All of the above retail entities are backed by huge corporate houses that have very deep pockets. While they can afford to bleed for some more time in pursuit of topline growth, it will be interesting to see if any of them make a marginal profit next year.
