Multinational retailer Wal-Mart Stores Inc will open its first cash-and-carry centre in India jointly with the Bharti Group next week – days after Manmohan Singh takes oath again as prime minister in a second UPA government at the centre.

Punjab chief minister Parkash Singh Badal will inaugurate the wholesale centre of Bharti Wal-Mart Pvt Ltd, a joint venture of Bharti Enterprises and Wal-Mart, in Amritsar, sources close to the development said.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc signed a joint venture with Bharti Enterprises in 2007 and the company had plans to open 10-15 cash-and-carry stores in the country by 2015.

The Bharti-Wal-Mart joint venture was to do wholesale cash-and-carry and back-end supply chain management business in India. A typical facility will have 50,000 to 100,000 square feet area and sell a wide range of fruits and vegetables, groceries and staples, stationery, footwear, clothing, consumer durables and other general merchandise items.

A wholesale business would give Wal-Mart a better hold on the market and help it to develop local suppliers and create local beneficiaries along the supply chain.

Wal-Mart, one of the top retail companies sourcing supplies from India, however, faces political opposition in India in doing retail business.

Last year, the company had announced that its cash-and-carry stores would be opened under the brand name of 'BestPrice Modern Wholesale'.

The $400 billion retail sector in India is expected to nearly double in size by 2015, with modern retailers controlling less than 5 per cent of the market.

Wal-Mart, like several other global retailers, is keen on rapidly expanding its presence in India, but has been facing fierce opposition from small local traders.