Wal-Mart Stores Inc.’s Chairman S. Robson Walton sought lifting of a ban on foreign investment in India’s retail industry in a meeting with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, the Economic Times reported, citing people familiar with the matter.

Walton met Singh on Nov. 4, the newspaper said.

Overseas investment in India’s retail industry is limited to single-brand merchants, preventing Walmart from buying stakes in local retail companies or setting up its own stores.