Dutch global grocery retailer Spar plans to re-enter India by the year’s end, predicting the country could be one of the top five global food retail markets in the future.

Spar operated 10 hypermarkets in India before it ended its partnership with Landmark Group of Dubai in May.

MD Gordon Campbell has revealed that the company is in talks with local retails chains for possible licensing agreement.

“It is our objective to establish a network of Spar partners in India. We have held initial discussions with a number of regional retailers and these discussions are continuing,” said Campbell.

“Spar is highly focused on Europe and is hit by the slowdown there. It may not have additional resources to spare for India,” said Harminder Sahni, MD of retail consultancy Wazir Advisors.

The retailer, which operates supermarkets, hypermarkets and neighbourhood stores, has 12,196 stores in 33 countries.

“We have already shown the Spar hypermarket and Spar supermarket formats are well accept by the Indian consumer and can be profitably operated,” concluded Campbell.

GB