Lucknow, July 26 (KNN) Stressing that US retail giant will support kirana stores, SMEs and farmers, its president and chief executive Krish Iyer has disclosed Walmart’s plan to open six more stores in Uttar Pradesh given the state is priority growth region for it.

The total number of such outlets will reach 10 after the opening of these 6 stores.

"We have four stores at present - two in Agra, and one each in Meerut and Lucknow," Iyer recently said while addressing reporters after launching Walmart India's second B2B (business to business) fulfilment centre in the city.

The fulfilment centre is first in Uttar Pradesh and the second in the country after Bhiwandi, Mumbai, and was set up last November.

"Uttar Pradesh is a very important and priority growth region for us and we are further expanding our business in the state to support kiranas, small farmers and local suppliers to help make them successful," Iyer said.

"The next such centre will be set up in Hyderabad," he said.

Iyer said that these centres would support kirana shops and other small businesses.

"It aims to contribute to local and state economy by creating thousands of job opportunities at the local level, besides giving a boost to the SME sector and the farmers," he said.

"The fulfilment centre will cater to the business needs of under-served small businesses such as kiranas, offices and institutions, and hotels, restauants and caterers," he said.

Walmart also plans to set up its "best price" stores at various locations in Uttar Pradesh, including Kanpur, Moradabad, Varanasi, Gorakhpur, Sharanpur, Lucknow and Ghaziabad.