Bharti-Walmart approaches CWC for a PPP model

Bharti-Walmart Private Limited, the joint venture between Bharti Enterprises and Walmart Stores Inc, is lobbying for private sector participation in the area of food storage and logistics. It wants to operate the warehousing facilities of the Central Warehousing Corporation on a thirty three year lease basis under a PPP model.

NDTV has learnt that the company is reportedly looking at operating CWC warehouses in as many as five cities, and to start with, it is looking at 3 warehouses around Delhi. Bharti Walmart will also be approaching state warehousing corporations.

An e mail query sent to the company has gone unanswered. Sources close to the development say that taking over CWC won't be a cakewalk for Bharti Walmart, as the move involves a government policy change.

Speaking on the development, Rajan Bharti Mittal, the Vice- Chairman and Managing Director of Bharti Enterprises, said: “There should be private sector participation in the area of cold storage and warehousing.”

The company, may however, face the hitch at the level of policy makers. On the one hand, while no one can deny the fact that the current system of warehousing leads to huge wastages in the supply chain, the issue is too sensitive politically for policy makers to take a firm stand.