British retailer Tesco says it is to open up to eight multibrand stores in India this year.

The multibrand stores are planned for Maharashtra and Karnataka, two states which allow FDI in retail, and will be operated in partnership with Trent of Tata Group.

Tesco and Trent, in March, agreed to equally own the Trent Hypermarkets, which has 12 existing stores under banners Star Bazaar, Star Market and Star Daily in the two states.

The expansion comes at a time when rival Walmart announced it is freezing its expansion plans for India until the last quarter of 2015 until the bribery allegations have been thoroughly investigated.