METRO Cash & Carry currently operates 31 stores in the country and caters to small retailers and kiranas, hospitality business, small restaurants, food outlets along with institutional businesses. METRO was one of the first companies to start the cash and carry business in India in 2003 in India. But METRO seemed to have misread the India potential. The company made slow progress in initial years and till 2016, METRO had just opened 18 stores in India (with one store being shut down at Ludhiana). The company had been making losses for 14 consecutive years, and it was only in 2018 that the company finally reported profitability with a revenues of INR 6140 crores. In early 2019, METRO AG's then CEO Olaf Koch on his India visit had confirmed to Times of India that "Five years down the line, the Indian arm should generate significantly more than one billion euros in turnover and should continue to grow in profitability."