Retailing in India has expanded its horizons in last few years offering ample amount of opportunities to Indian business Diasporas. Reasons are simple; India has the youngest population in the world. Over 65 per cent of the population is below 35 yrs old; 54 per cent of the population is below 25 years of age. So, due to its large consumer base India provides an opportunity to the retailers of all over the world to sell their products in India.

With the coming of more and more multinationals in India which are providing job opportunities to the young generation as in most developing countries the growth incomes, purchasing power and disposable incomes has increased immensely which has substantially increased the size of retail market in India.

Indian government is taking positive steps to revive the economy and is sure to bring it back to annual growth rate of nine percent notwithstanding the current global recession. Indian real estate industry has shown positive results gaining its momentum, as real estate is an industry which has always been directly associated with the retail revolution in any country.

Indian Retail Industry

With the boom in the Indian retail industry various Indian companies has emerged as successful players. For instance, the RPG Group which was the first to get into the organized retailing business in India, later the introduced Food world a division of Spencer & Co, a part of the RPG Group, in May 1996. RPG launched another chain called Music World; in between they have also formed other companies and opened new stores. As Indian retail industry started flourishing Pantaloon Retail became one of the largest companies in this business with their retail presence across various segments including food, fashion and footwear, home solutions and consumer electronics, books and music, health beauty and wellness, general merchandise, telecom and IT, E-tailing, leisure and entertainment and financial products and services. The company is a part of Future Group, a diversified conglomerate with presence in multiple consumer-centric businesses.

The Tata Group, with interest in various consumer product categories has different companies to retail its brands. While in automobiles it operates through its distributor and dealer network, for lifestyle & F&G segment, it operates through its retail arm Trent. Titan Industries Limited, a joint venture between the Tata Group and the Tamil Nadu Industrial Development Corporation (TIDCO) is also a famous name in watch business and branded Jewellery business with its brand Tanishq. Primal Group, Vishal retail, Reliance retail are among the famous business houses which have ventured in to retail business. Among the wholesalers the German group Metro cash and carry is a famous name that started operations in India in 2003 and introduced the concept of Cash & Carry to India.

Attributes driving Indian Retail Industry

The certain points which can be taken under consideration:

  • Economic prosperity
  • Rising incomes
  • increased per capita spending
  • rapid urbanization
  • Improved infrastructure
  • liberalization of the Indian economy
  • Flourishing manufacturing and services sectors
  • Booming real estate industry
  • Increasing foreign direct investment

Impediments to Indian Retail Industry

Although Government of India at their level have taken various initiatives to bring spurt in the Industry like 100 per cent FDI is allowed in single-brand retail outlets and 100 per cent in cash-and-carry through the automatic route. 100 per cent FDI allowed in realty projects through the automatic route etc, however, the last few months have been a bad story for Indian Retailing Industry. The reason, as the whole world is aware of the global financial crisis. Some of the major projects have been stopped or amid completion are still pending. The crises can be a short story and will vanish soon as the major economies have already started showing positive results.

However, India is still lacking in providing skilled manpower to the industry. This has always been a major issue, various government departments have taken major steps to encourage the young rural population to take part in various schemes run by government of India and maximize their level of knowledge and skills. About the young educated group of people, many private run institutions are there. Various business conglomerates are tying up with these educational institutions to teach the retailing concept, new technologies involved, logistics management, Information Technology applications involved in retail business.

Some major institutions offering diploma courses in India are Pearl Academy, NIFT, NID etc. The presence of these institutes and initiatives taken by them promoting retail studies shows the growing interest of students in studying retail. Also, retail come with a package of jobs as for a store you have to manage, storage, logistics, working knowledge of computers etc as mentioned above a lot of people are required which will not only work but by anyway become customers of one or another retail store.

The views expressed are personal views of the author. First published in 2009.