Bloomberg

Bharti Wal-Mart is in talks with Central Warehousing Corporation (CWC), a public sector undertaking, for buying up to 14 warehousing facilities to be used for developing a chain of cold storages and cash & carry outlets.
The Wal-Mart spokesperson was not available for comment on the issue. However, a CWC official said the corporation had been approached by many private players.
“We have some unused warehouses, which we would like to share with the private sector. However, at this point of time, we are still mulling whether to go for outright sale of these facilities or just give them on long lease,” he said.
CWC operates 490 warehouses in Maharashtra, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Kerala, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Chandigarh, Bihar and Madhya Pradesh, with a total storage capacity of 9.8 million tonnes. These facilities provide warehousing services for products ranging from agricultural produce to sophisticated industrial products.
For any private sector retailer, getting access to these facilities will be like striking a goldmine. A strong back-end is the most important aspect of organised retail. However, not many companies in India have been able to strengthen the back-end due to very high real estate costs. Most CWC godowns are centrally located, and are thus ideally suited for procurement and distribution purposes of organised retailers.
Recently, Reliance took some CWC godowns to meet its storage requirements for the Reliance Fresh stores. The company signed a deal to lease 2 million sq ft of space from the corporation. Apart from storage and handling, CWC also offers services in the area of clearing & forwarding, handling & transportation, procurement & distribution, disinfestation services, fumigation services and other ancillary activities. The corporation also offers consultancy services/ training for the construction of warehousing infrastructure to different agencies.
Bharti Wal-Mart has big plans in the cash & carry business in India. The company has not been able to start operations because of real estate hassles. According to a CWC official, the company is eyeing a facility in Kundli, in the national capital region that could be the site for one of its first wholesale stores.