India: Metro plans to triple outlets by 2020

According to VCCircle, German cash and carry firm Metro Group plans to triple its store count in India to 50 by 2020.

Olaf Koch, Chairman of the management board of Metro, said: "India has always been an important future growth market for METRO and we have seen continuous like-for-like growth recently in India. Now we decide to inject extra momentum into our expansion course there to operate 50 distribution centres by 2020.”

Worldwide, Metro Group operates around 2,200 stores in 32 countries and has a headcount of around 265,000 employees, generating sales of about €66 billion. India, where Metro currently runs 16 stories in 12 cities, is perceived by the company as a key market for expansion along with Russia, China and Turkey.

The announcement comes a month after global rival Walmart set a similar expansion target for its wholesale retail business in India, planning to open 50 cash and carry or wholesale retail outlets over the next four to five years.

Source: VCCirle