Bharti Enterprises has started talks with Wal-Mart and is hoping to form a 50:50 joint venture to roll out retail outlets in India, a top company official has said.

The two companies have an equal partnership in wholesale business and the Indian partner is hopeful of replicating it in the retail business, following the government’s decision to allow up to 51% FDI in multi-brand retail.

Bharti enterprises Vice Chairman and MD Rajan Bharti

Mittal said “talks have started” and the company is hopeful that the nature of their relationship — under which Wal-Mart became an equal partner in the wholesale business despite having a chance of bringing in 100% FDI — would continue. “All I am trying to say here is that when there was opportunity to go 100% in wholesale, they had 50:50 with Bharti,” Mittal said in CNN-IBN’s programme, Devil’s Advocate.

“Now, with the opening up of the front-end, the discussions are on the table and hopefully the relationship that we have enjoyed in the last five years will continue.”