Wal-Mart Stores is entering India's retail market through a tie-up with Bharti Enterprises after seeing off a challenge from Tesco.
The joint venture will start opening stores in Asia's fourth-largest economy from 2007, and Bharti Enterprise Chairman Sunil Mittal said he expected it will have several hundred stores across the country in the next four to five years.
The Financial Expressdaily said earlier this month that the two firms would initially invest $100 million (£51.6 million), going up to $1.46 billion.
The Indian retail industry is estimated at about $300 billion, and it is forecast to grow to $427 billion in 2010 and $637 billion in 2015. But small local stores account for 97 per cent of the market.