South Korea’s largest retailer, Lotte Shopping, is targeting India and Vietnam as part of its plans to expand in some of the world’s fast-growing economies.

Lotte Shopping chief executive Lee Chul-woo said: “We are searching for sites in India and Vietnam.”

Lotte opened its first overseas store in Moscow last year and will open its next, a 387,515 sq ft department store including a large food hall, in Beijing in July.

International retailers are increasingly targeting the burgeoning US$330 billion (£165.47 billion) Indian retail market.

Last week, US retailer Office Depot unveiled a venture with Reliance Retail to sell office products and services to business customers in India. The partners have also acquired Mumbai’s eOfficePlanet, one of India’s largest office supply dealers. Office Depot has 1,600 stores in 43 countries.

Separately, India’s two biggest retail names announced strong results last week.

Shoppers’ Stop posted a 41.4 per cent increase in pre-tax profits to INR37 million (£463,929) for the quarter to March 31, despite sharp increases in rents and hiring costs. Its sales rose 40.3 per cent to INR2.94 billion (£36.9 million). For the 2008 financial year, the company’s revenues increased to INR12.06 billion (£150.1 million), up 43.2 per cent.

Pantaloon Retail announced a 71.5 per cent jump in profits to INR321 million (£4 million) for its third quarter to March 31. Its sales rose 57.3 per cent to INR13.6 billion (£170.3 million).

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