US retail giant Walmart has asked the Indian government to reduce the mandatory local sourcing norm to 15 percent, saying it cannot meet the stipulated level required to open multi-brand stores in India.
Walmart’s demand comes after the government diluted the contentious sourcing clause last year to allow foreign multi-brand retailers that want to set up stores in India to procure 30 percent of their products from small and medium enterprises only at the of start of business.
The Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP), though, has clearly conveyed to Walmart that the government will not ease this clause, the sources said.
(Source: Business Standard )