Metro Cash & Carry opens first store in Kolkata

Kolkata, Dec 3, 2008 : Metro Cash & Carry, the Indian arm of German wholesaler Metro AG, Wednesday opened its first outlet here, nearly two months after the company was granted licence to sell farm commodities and other food items in West Bengal. “We have invested Rs.140 crore (Rs.1.4 billion) in the region and also created 350 new jobs for local citizens,” Metro Cash & Carry India managing director Martin Dlouhy told reporters here.

The company faced tough times earlier as Forward Bloc, a partner in the state’s Left Front government, which controls agriculture and agricultural marketing departments, opposed the renewal of the licence. None of the Forward Bloc members turned up for the inaugural ceremony though the company said it had invited them.

Asked abouit this, Forward Bloc leader and Agriculture Marketing Board chairman Naren Chatterjee told mediapersons: “We usually don’t go for any private company’s ceremony. There is no other reason apart from this for not attending the inauguration.”

Including the 100,000-square-feet Kolkata store, the German wholesale major has five stores in India - two in Bangalore, one each in Hyderabad and Mumbai. Cricket star Sourav Ganguly and state Sundarbans Affairs Minister Kanti Ganguly inaugurated the outlet.

“I am confident that our unique model will catalyse the entrepreneurial attitude of Bengalis by providing a one-stop solution for purchase, improvements in assortments and high quality products to our professional customers,” Dlouhy said. The minimum level of purchase from this store should be Rs.1,000, a company source confirmed.

Metro Cash & Carry to open outlet on Dec 4

KOLKATA,10 Nov: Metro Cash & Carry will be thrown open to the public on December 4. This German supply major outlet off the Eastern Metropolitan Bypass will be inaugurated the day before, possibly by chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee. Metro officials met ministers Naren De and Mortaza Hossain among others on Monday.

The outlet will be the company’s fifth outlet in the country after Bangalore, Hyderabad and Mumbai. Metro’s special focus would be hotels, restaurants, traders and kirana stores. The opening of the outlet is a major development as the Forward Bloc-controlled agricultural marketing board had refused to issue a fresh licence to the wholesale outlet a few months ago. Later, it agreed to give the nod after placing certain conditions. CPI(M) and Forward Bloc were locked in a major tussle over the issue. Finally, the marketing board and the Bloc agreed to issue a fresh licence and a memorandum of understanding was signed between the company and the state government on October 10.

Metro will do business with only those who have APMC licences. Though it can purchase from private markets or regulatory marketing committees, it has to pay one per cent market fee while selling the produce. Other conditions include a bar on contract farming with farmers and only following the business-to-business model with traders. Also, in case of a legal dispute, it must be sorted out in a court of law within the state.

The German wholesale major has already trained 350 persons to work in its outlet. According to its officials, the wholesale centres are open exclusively for business customers, all of them duly registered and provided with customer identification cards.

Metro gets licence, to open in 8 weeks

10 Oct 2008, 0530 hrs IST,TNN

KOLKATA: The deal is final. German wholesale major Metro Cash & Carry got the licence on Friday to operate on a business-to-business model and not the unspecified business model it had been insisting on. The Forward Bloc-run State Agricultural Marketing Board also did a climbdown by withdrawing the minimum purchase limit of Rs 5,000 that it had been demanding. This licence will be valid only till next March, board chairman Naren Chatterjee said.

The company will open its wholesale outlet off the EM Bypass within eight weeks. This will be its fifth outlet in the country. There are two in Bangalore and another two in Hyderabad and Mumbai. The business-to-business model entails trading between Metro Cash & Carry and those having a trade licence or the Regulated Market Committee (RMC) licence. Also, the company has to furnish the list of traders it is dealing with to the marketing board for scrutiny. "Some board employees will be posted there at the cash counter to scrutinize the bills and challans," Chatterjee said.

After the board dictated its terms, Metro officials wanted the government to relax the minimum purchase limit, which Forward Bloc state secretary Asok Ghosh did at the prodding of chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee two days ago. The conditions discussed at the meeting involved agricultural produce only and not other commodities such as FMCG, electronics and textile. For, the West Bengal State Marketing Board can only regulate procurement and sale of agri-produce under the existing Agricultural Produce Marketing and Control (APMC) Act.

"First, the company cannot go for contract farming even as the recent central guidelines to change the APMC Act provides for it. Agriculture is a state subject and the government won't allow it. Corporates can't influence the farming process while procuring vegetables or crops," the Board chairman said after coming out of the meeting. "Not only that, Metro officials will have to send their stock statements to the marketing board on a regular basis. Any legal dispute with the supply major has to be settled in Calcutta High Court and not in Germany, because that would make things worse for farmers," Chatterjee said. "Metro Cash & Carry would be allowed to do wholesale trade only. And, purchase can only be made with trade and APMC licences, the question of fixing a minimum amount of bill does not arise," Chatterjee said. Against each transaction, the marketing board will get 1% of the trading amount from the German major and another 1% from the trader, as marketing fee. The agreement was signed and the licence issued after four hours of closed-door meeting between Metro and state government officials. Agriculture minister Naren Dey and chief secretary Amit Kiran Deb were present during the signing of the agreement.

Frits van Peski, member of the executive board of directors, Metro Cash & Carry India, after signing the agreement, said 350 trained employees are now ready to serve. According to Metro officials, the wholesale centres are open exclusively for professional business customers, all of them duly registered and provided with a customer identification card. "This means that the company would not sell anything to household customers. Metro Cash & Carry supports its core target groups of hotels, restaurants, caterers as well as kirana stores and other small retailers by offering a wide assortment of 18,000 articles, comprising food and non-food products," a press release said.

Leftfront approves conditional renewal of licence to Metro

Metro Bloc-ade lifted, licence by Oct 10
29 Sep 2008, 0311 hrs IST,TNN

KOLKATA: Left Front partner Forward Bloc on Sunday gave in to intense pressure from the rest of the allies, especially CPI(M), and agreed to renew the licence to wholesale major Metro Cash & Carry. The Bloc-controlled state agriculture marketing board will issue by October 10 the agriculture produce marketing committee (APMC) licence the German supply major needs to start operations at its new outlet on EM Bypass.

As a concession to the Bloc, which literally had to eat humble pie on the vexed issue, it was decided that a set of conditions - to be drawn up jointly by FB and CPI(M) - would be imposed before the licence is renewed. Reacting to the development, a Metro Cash & Carry spokesperson said: "We have received media reports that the APMC licence will be given on October 10. We heartily thank the chief minister, the Bengal government, the marketing board and all officials concerned for this."

Chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee had on Friday overruled the board's objection and asked chief secretary Amit Kiran Deb to issue orders to renew Metro's licence by September 30. Now, as per the Front's decision, the order will not be executed. Sunday's acrimonious meeting, extending to nearly three hours, saw the Front partners coming down heavily on the Bloc leadership - state secretary Ashok Ghosh, agriculture marketing board chairman Naren Chatterjee, Barun Mukherjee and Hafiz Alam Sairani - for objections to renewing the licence and the decision to resign from the state Cabinet if the CM's order was not revoked.

With the Singur crisis still looming large, most Front partners were in no mood to allow internal bickerings to come to the fore and give the Opposition another issue to exploit. Bloc leader Barun Mukherjee explained his party's stand on the issue and why they considered Metro Cash & Carry a threat to farmers and small traders. But RSP leaders Debabrata Bandyopadhyay, Biswanath Chowdhury, CPI state secretary Manju Maju-mdar, Nandagopal Bhattacharya and other LF leaders launched a scathing attack on the Bloc leadership.

According to sources, the Bloc leaders were asked to explain why the licence was first issued in 2005 and then withdrawn in June 2007. The Bloc leadership's argument that then agriculture minister Kamal Guha wasn't aware of the implications of issuing the licence, however, didn't cut much ice. The Front partners were also critical of FB's sudden decision to boycott Writers' Buildings and quit the ministry if the CM's order was not revoked by September 30.

Harping on Left unity and the state's development, the partners asked the Bloc leadership to fall in line. Biman Bose and other Front leaders appealed to Ghosh to maintain Left unity. "We were never against issuing the licence. What upset us was the CM's unilateral decision at a time when talks were on," senior FB leader Sairani said after the meeting. However, leaders from the other Left Front parties wanted a greater say when it came to big investment in the state.

"Left Front will discuss and decide on who will be allowed to invest in West Bengal," Biman Bose told reporters. The CPM state secretary said that there was no question of any Bloc minister resigning. "CPM and Forward Bloc leaders will meet and decide on the conditions before October 10," he said. Ashok Ghosh echoed Biman Bose's words.

SECOND COPY

Kolkata, Sep 28 (IANS): Putting aside their differences, the constituents of West Bengal’s ruling Left Front Sunday decided to renew the licence of German firm Metro Cash and Carry while the Forward Bloc withdrew its threat of boycotting the state secretariat on the issue.”We discussed the issue threadbare and openly. We have arrived at the unanimous decision that the state Agricultural Marketing Board will renew the licence of Metro Cash & Carry on Oct 10, but there will be some conditions attached,” Left Front chairman Biman Bose said after the three-hour deliberations.

“Following the discussions, the Forward Bloc has also suspended the decision that its ministers will not go to the state secretariat Writers Buildings from Monday. They will attend office from Monday,” Bose said.

The Bloc’s ire had stemmed from a letter written by Chief Secretary Amit Kiran Deb to the South 24 Parganas district magistrate at Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee’s instance that the wholesale major’s licence to do business in the state may be renewed.

The Bloc had also threatened to pull out of the ministry if Bhattacharjee did not withdraw his instruction by Sep 30.

The Bloc, which holds the portfolios of agriculture and agricultural marketing in the state, had Friday said it was opposed to renewing the licence of the German company fearing “it (Metro) would eat up the space of small and poor farmers and the intermediaries”.

The party, which controls the Agriculture Marketing Board that issues the Agricultural Produce Marketing Committee (APMC) licences, took exception to Bhattacharjee bypassing the Board.

According to the formula finalised at Sunday’s Left Front meeting, the chief secretary’s order would not be implemented, and the Agriculture Marketing Board itself would grant the renewal.

The Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M), which leads the Front, and the Bloc will hold bilateral talks before Oct 10 to decide the conditions to be imposed on Metro.

“It was also decided that in future, whenever some other company comes from abroad, the matter will first be discussed in the Left Front to decide what rights the company can be given,” Bose said.

The Bloc, opposing the entry of large corporate houses in retail trade, has expressed apprehension that Metro Cash & Carry could shift to retail business after getting a foothold in the state through wholesale trade.

The company had said it would wait till Monday before deciding whether to move out of the state.

The Bloc’s aggressive posture had come at a time when the state government was in a soup on the land issue in Singur, with Tata Motors signalling an imminent pull-out of its small car facility after having suspended operations in the Nano plant since Sep 2.

Metro Cash & Carry started constructing a 100,000 sq ft outlet for an investment of $30 million in the southeast of the city a couple of years back. The project got delayed due to land disputes.

It was granted a licence to trade in APMC commodities in 2005, which was subsequently renewed twice in 2006 and 2007 to be valid till March 2008. However, in June 2007 the said licence was unilaterally withdrawn by APMC authorities. The company filed for issuance of fresh APMC licence in March 2008 and is still awaiting this.

The German major already has four stores in India - two in Bangalore, one each in Hyderabad and Mumbai and has partnered with small and medium businesses like grocery stores, hotels and restaurants.

The Left Front has been in power in West Bengal without a break since 1977.

Buddhadeb for Metro Cash & Carry licence, Forward Bloc protests

Kolkata, Sep 27 (IANS) : West Bengal’s ruling Left Front plunged into fresh crisis Friday night with alliance member Forward Bloc saying its ministers would not attend the state secretariat from Monday to protest Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee’s order to renew the license of German firm Metro Cash and Carry.The Bloc’s ire stemmed from a letter from Chief Secretary Amit Kiran Deb to the district magistrate of South 24 Parganas at the instruction of Bhattacharjee that the wholesale major be given a renewed licence to do business in the state. The Forward Bloc, which holds the portfolios of agriculture and agricultural marketing in the state, had earlier Friday decided not to renew the license.

Slamming the chief minister’s instruction, Bloc state secretary Ashok Ghosh said: “Protesting this attitude of CPI-M, our ministers will abstain from going to the Writers’ Building (state secretariat) from Monday. We will continue this till the chief minister withdraws his instruction.”
Ghosh also threatened that the Bloc may even leave the ministry if the issue was not resolved soon.

The Forward Bloc is scheduled to meet the CPI-M Sep 28 to decide on the renewal of the APMC (Agricultural Produce Marketing Committee) licence for the German company.

The Bloc has been opposing the entry of large corporate houses in retail trade and has expressed apprehension that Metro Cash & Carry could shift to retail business after getting a foothold in the state through wholesale trade.

The company had Wednesday held a meeting with the chief minister and said it would wait till Monday before deciding whether it would move out of the state.

Asked whether the party would now sit for talks with the CPI-M, Ghosh said: “We don’t think there is any need for talks till the CPI-M withdraws the letter they have issued.”

While announcing their decision against renewing licence to the German firm, Ghosh had said: “Our party has decided unanimously not to renew the APMC licence for Metro Cash & Carry. We will not allow any big investor, both Indian or foreign, to eat up the space of small and poor farmers and the intermediaries,” Ghosh said.

While Naren De of the Forward Bloc is the minister for agriculture and agricultural marketing, another party leader Naren Chatterjee heads the Agriculture Marketing Board, which issues the licence.

The Bloc has four members in the Bhattacharjee ministry.

The Bloc’s aggressive posture has come at a time when the CPI-M led Left Front government has been in a soup on the Nano land issue, with Tata Motors signalling an imminent pull-out of its small car facility from Singur after having suspended operations in the plant since Sep 2.

The government had been touting the Nano project as the beginning of the industrial resurgence of the state after years of drought in attracting big investments in the manufacturing sector.

Metro Cash & Carry started constructing a 100,000 sq ft outlet for an investment of $30 million in the southeast of the city a couple of years back. The entire project got delayed due to land disputes.

It was granted a licence to trade in APMC commodities in 2005, which was subsequently renewed twice in 2006 and 2007 to be valid till March 2008. However, in June 2007 the said licence was unilaterally withdrawn by APMC authorities. The company filed for issuance of fresh APMC licence in March 2008 and is still awaiting the same.

The German major already has four stores in India - two in Bangalore, one each in Hyderabad and Mumbai and is partnered by various small and medium businesses like kirana stores, hotels and restaurants.