French retailer Carrefour has put its Indian expansion plans on hold citing the global economic downturn as the reason.

Earlier this year, Carrefour announced expansion into Indian cities Pune, Bangalore, Meerut and Agra, but, those plans were postponed as the company did not want to take risk with the weakened economic situation.

Carrefour said it will focus its expansion in its other emerging markets such as Brazil and China.

Carrefour has opened only two cash and carry stores in India since its debut in 2010. Its rival American retailer Walmart, who partnered with Bharti Enterprises, has 17 stores while German retailer Metro has 10, and says it is looking at expanding its presence into 40 cities.

Carrefour has also trimmed its network in France and in some part of Europe due to economic slowdown. It reported an operating loss of 481 million euros (US$590.33 million) in 2011, compared with income of 1703 million euros (US$2.09 billion) in the previous year.

Last year, Carrefour opened 25 hypermarkets in Asia, with China accounting 23 openings.

GB