The newly elected provincial government in India's national capital on Monday barred foreign supermarkets from setting up shop, a blow to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's efforts to attract overseas investment and revive the economy. Singh had thrown open the country's $500 billion retail industry to foreign investors in late 2012, allowing companies such as Wal-Mart Stores Inc and Tesco PLC to own a majority stake in local chains for the first time.But the policy was pushed through in the teeth of fierce opposition from domestic retailers and political parties, who said it would cause mass job losses in a sector that is mostly dominated by small, family run shops.Moreover, strict sourcing norms and a requirement that companies must ask permission from local state governments before opening stores have made most supermarket giants wary.Last month, Britain's Tesco was the first to take the plunge, announcing it would purchase a 50 percent stake in Trent Hypermarket Ltd, which is part of the Tata group.
Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (Walmart) operates retail stores in various formats globally. Shares of WMT fell by 0.59% or $-0.46/share to $77.58. In the past year, the shares have traded as low as $68.10 and as high as $81.37. On average, 5822650 shares of WMT exchange hands on a given day and today's volume is recorded at 2151988.
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