French retailer Carrefour has opened its first store in Bangalore, expanding its presence into South India.

The cash-and-carry store spans 68,000 sqft and stocks 10,000 food and non-food SKUs.

The store is the first store Carrefour has opened this year and its fifth in the country after stores in New Delhi, Jaipur, Agra and Meerut. It competes with Walmart’s existing three stores in the city.

Opening its first store in India in 2010, Carrefour has expanded cautiously in India, with only one store opening per year mostly.

Its rival Walmart runs 20 wholesale stores under Best Price Modern brand while German’s Metro has 16.

Carrefour will also face competition from Britain’s Tesco which has filed an application to initially invest $110 million to acquire 50 per cent stake in Tata Group’s Trent, which operates Star Bazaar supermarkets. The English retailer plans to build on Star Bazaar’s 16 existing stores in Maharashtra and Karnataka states with an expansion plan of opening three to five stores per year.