Spar seeking more partners for hypermarkets in India.

Fresh from opening its first hypermarket in India, Dutch retail giant Spar International is looking to expand its presence on the subcontinent through franchising agreements with Indian retailers.

Spar has already signed a licensing agreement with Dubai-based Landmark Group's Max Hypermarket to set up seven hypermarkets and supermarkets in the country, starting in Bangalore, the country's industrial and fast paced computer technology center.

Now the company is looking for retail chains or business conglomerates that can be the licensees of Spar for an entire state, or at least in a major city, and also for individual stores that can be operated under the Spar banner. Spar will provide them with the branding, know-how in marketing, store design, and supply chain expertise for a fee.

India's retail market is estimated to be worth $350 billion. Organized retailing, which constitutes four per cent of this, is expected to grow at 10-15% over the next couple of years, according to estimates by retail consultancy Technopak Advisors.

The Indian retail market has already attracted international players such as USA-headquartered Wal-Mart, Carrefour of France, South Africa's Shoprite and Germany's Metro, which are operating or planning to launch cash and carry outlets and backend support for Indian retailers. There is a prohibition on foreign retailers from entering front-end retailing in India.

"Initially, we are looking at big cities in the country, since organized retailing has just begun here; and then we will move into tier-II and III cities," said Gordon R Campbell, managing director, Spar International.

Spar operates in 34 countries and has four formats such as hypermarket Interspar, large supermarket Eurospar, local supermarket Spar and small format Spar Express.