Trent awaiting final nod for Tesco JV: Noel Tata

Tata Group is awaiting final regulatory approvals for its proposed joint venture with UK- based retail giant Tesco before opening stores in India, a senior company executive said on Monday. Tata Group firm Trent Hypermarket and Tesco in December last year won approval of the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) to open multi-brand retail stores, but the two may have still not got final approval orders owing to inter- ministerial issues over wording of the nod. ‘We are awaiting the approvals... When we get it we will make our plans (to open multi-brand retail stores). We are still waiting for the acceptance (of 50:50 joint venture of Trent-Tesco),’ Trent Ltd Vice-Chairman Noel Tata said on the sidelines of a CII event here. In December, FIPB approved Tesco Plc’s proposal to enter the Indian multi-brand retail segment in joint venture with Tata Group company Trent Hypermarket Ltd with an initial investment of $110 million (about Rs 680 crore). However, DIPP Secretary Saurabh Chandra on his last day at the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion on 28 February wrote to Finance Ministry on the wording of the nod to Trent-Tesco proposal keeping in mind the changes FIPB had made in the original proposal.