2006年VOA标准英语-India's Retail Sector Set for Dramatic Changes

By Anjana Pasricha
New Delhi
03 December 2006

John B. Menzer, Wal Mart President talks with Indian PM Manmohan Singh, right, in New Delhi, 12 May 2005

India's retail¹ sector² is set for dramatic changes as the world's largest retailer³, Wal-Mart, gets ready to open hundreds of stores in the country with a local partner. As Anjana Pasricha reports from New Delhi, Wal-Mart will be the first foreign superstore to break into India's under-developed retail market.

On a sunny winter day, customers pick up groceries from a small, family-owned store in an up-market area of New Delhi. The owner, Gurvinder Saluja, greets them cheerily. He knows many of them by name.

"They come and stand in front of me, I attend them personally, and I am attending them for years, I give the personal touch," he said.

Millions of mom-and-pop stores like Saluja's do brisk business in a country where even the largest cities, like Delhi, boast only a handful of supermarkets.

That may be about to change. During the next five years, the U.S. retail giant, Wal-Mart, plans to open hundreds of superstores in India.

The stores will actually be owned by the Indian telecommunications company Bharti Enterprises, but operated as a Wal-Mart franchise⁴. The arrangement will allow Wal-Mart to pry⁵ open India's retail sector, which is closed to direct foreign investment, but allows outsiders to operate through franchisees⁶.

Bharti chairman Sunil Mittal calls India the world's last, big frontier for retail. He says Wal-Mart's expertise⁷ in this area will help his company tap the sector's massive potential in India.

"Wal-Mart has now decades of experience," said Mittal. "More importantly, they have handled size, which is needed for India. India is a very large country, you need very large-scale technology intervention⁸, and I think they will be the right partners."

Wal-Mart and Bharti will be facing domestic competitors. The toughest competition could come from India's largest private sector company, Reliance Industries, which plans to spend more than $5 billion to open more than 5,000 retail stores across the country. The first opened last month in the southern city of Hyderabad.

Large stores have only a three percent share of the retail market, but business analysts⁹ say there is enough room in India's huge market for several players. Turnover¹⁰ is expected to more than double in the coming decade, from $300 billion to more than $600 billion.

Raman Manglorkar, head of consumer and retail practice at consulting group A.T. Kearney, says modern retail is set for impressive growth, and other global retail chains like Tesco are also eying the Indian market.

"More encouraging is what we refer to as modern retail, which we anticipate growing at 25- to 30-percent annually," noted¹¹ Manglorkar. "There is a lot of interest, and most of the major international players are pacing the sidelines, and building up their strategic plans, and getting ready to enter as soon as the opportunity opens up."

It is this potential that prompted Wal-Mart to get a head start in India, even though it had to tie up with a local partner. It may face some opposition¹², India's leftist parties have threatened to launch a nationwide strike against Wal-Mart, saying it has entered through a backdoor route.

India has kept the retail sector closed to outsiders for fear of endangering the livelihood¹³ of owners of 15 million small stores like Gurvinder Saluja's. Saluja is not worried yet, but says he is prepared for tough competition.

"If they will be able to sell cheap, we have to see, we have to compete, that is the only thing," said Saluja.

Saluja may have reason for concern. With fatter incomes and rising expectations, the Indian middle class is getting used to modern conveniences, and is ready to shop the way the developed world does.

It is millions of potential customers like these that have prompted business analysts to rate India as one of the world's most attractive retail markets.

1 retail   

v./n.零售；adv.以零售价格

参考例句：

• In this shop they retail tobacco and sweets.这家铺子零售香烟和糖果。
• These shoes retail at 10 yuan a pair.这些鞋子零卖10元一双。

2 sector   

n.部门，部分；防御地段，防区；扇形

参考例句：

• The export sector will aid the economic recovery. 出口产业将促进经济复苏。
• The enemy have attacked the British sector.敌人已进攻英国防区。

3 retailer   

n.零售商(人)

参考例句：

• What are the retailer requirements?零售商会有哪些要求呢？
• The retailer has assembled a team in Shanghai to examine the question.这家零售商在上海组建了一支团队研究这个问题。

4 franchise   

n.特许，特权，专营权，特许权

参考例句：

• Catering in the schools is run on a franchise basis.学校餐饮服务以特许权经营。
• The United States granted the franchise to women in 1920.美国于1920年给妇女以参政权。

5 pry   

vi.窥(刺)探，打听；vt.撬动(开，起)

参考例句：

• He's always ready to pry into other people's business.他总爱探听别人的事。
• We use an iron bar to pry open the box.我们用铁棍撬开箱子。

6 franchisees   

n.特许经营人( franchisee的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Works on these franchisees' facilities were moving ahead rapidly. 这些专营设施的工程正迅速推展。 来自互联网
• Another good source of information about a franchise is other franchisees. 另一个了解特许经营的可靠信息源是其他经营者。 来自互联网

7 expertise   

n.专门知识(或技能等)，专长

参考例句：

• We were amazed at his expertise on the ski slopes.他斜坡滑雪的技能使我们赞叹不已。
• You really have the technical expertise in a new breakthrough.让你真正在专业技术上有一个全新的突破。

8 intervention   

n.介入，干涉，干预

参考例句：

• The government's intervention in this dispute will not help.政府对这场争论的干预不会起作用。
• Many people felt he would be hostile to the idea of foreign intervention.许多人觉得他会反对外来干预。

9 analysts   

分析家，化验员( analyst的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• City analysts forecast huge profits this year. 伦敦金融分析家预测今年的利润非常丰厚。
• I was impressed by the high calibre of the researchers and analysts. 研究人员和分析人员的高素质给我留下了深刻印象。

10 turnover   

n.人员流动率，人事变动率；营业额，成交量

参考例句：

• The store greatly reduced the prices to make a quick turnover.这家商店实行大减价以迅速周转资金。
• Our turnover actually increased last year.去年我们的营业额竟然增加了。

11 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

12 opposition   

n.反对，敌对

参考例句：

• The party leader is facing opposition in his own backyard.该党领袖在自己的党內遇到了反对。
• The police tried to break down the prisoner's opposition.警察设法制住了那个囚犯的反抗。

13 livelihood   

n.生计，谋生之道

参考例句：

• Appropriate arrangements will be made for their work and livelihood.他们的工作和生活会得到妥善安排。
• My father gained a bare livelihood of family by his own hands.父亲靠自己的双手勉强维持家计。