Tesco raises sourcing from India to £230 m

“Tesco does sourcing worth £230 million from India and we are looking to raise this figure in future,” Tesco executive director (corporate legal affairs) Lucy Neville-Rolfe said here on the sidelines of the India Economic Summit organised by the World Economic Forum.

The retailer is awaiting a policy change by government to have a full-fledged retail operation in the country. It is currently partnering with Trent, a Tata group enterprise, for back-end operations.

The present government policy on foreign direct investment (FDI) bars foreign companies to set up multi-brand retail stores in the country.

“Of the total sourcing that we do from India, 70% is clothing and apparel but we are looking to grow other categories as well such as food,” Rolfe said adding that the company had just started sourcing products such as grapes and baby corn in the food segment.

Commenting on the FDI policy on retail in India, Rolfe said the company had adopted an evolutionary path in the country and would continue to focus on partnership with Trent.

“We are currently providing support to Tata to run their Star Bazaar chain of retail outlets and we will continue to focus on the partnership,” she said.