A

SEMINAR REPORT
ON
“RETAIL IN INDIA”

SUBMITTED TO
MAHARSHI DAYANAND UNIVERSITY
{2009-10}
IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF REQUIREMENT OF
DEGREE COURSE OF M.B.A. (1ST SEM.)

SUBMITTED TO SUBMITTED BY
MRS. POONAM LUTHRA ASHISH GUPTA
HOD OF M.B.A. M.B.A. (1ST Sem.)
R.I.M.T. (CHIDANA) ROLL NO-09/MBA/02
 DECLARATION

I Ashish Gupta, Roll No.-09/MBA/02 (M.B.A. 1ST Semester) of

Royal Institute of Management & Technology, Chidana, Sonepat hereby
declare that the seminar report entitled “Retail in India” is an original
work & the same has not been submitted to any other institute for reward of
any other degree.

A seminar report was made on & the suggestions as approved by the

faculty were duly incorporated.

ASHISH GUPTA
 CONTENTS

1. PREFACE
2. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
3. STUDENT’S PRTEVIEW
4. CERTIFICATE
5. INTRODUCTION TO THE REPORT
6. RETAIL
7. EMPLOYMENT IN RETAIL
8. WORLD’S LARGEST RETAILER
9. FDI IN RETAIL
10. EFFECTS OF FDI INDULDGEMENT
11. RECOMMENDATIONS BY CPAS
12. BIBLIOGRAPHY
 PREFACE

In the widening modern world, the pleasant system is facing new

challenges. Emphasis is being lid on Vocationalisation &
Professionalisation of education to cope with hazards of unemployment and
direction loss, the natural off springs of present setup of education.

Maharshi Dayanand University, Rohtak is making a determined bid

to impact professional education in order to create powerful potential of
employability. Professional education has come to occupy permanent
position in the modern world. Thus, it is essential to hemp the practical field,
and hence, I am assigned this project, which is part of my subject.

This degree course aim at providing the knowledge about

Professionalisation, while undergoing 1st Semester Exams, we are to prepare
this project.

ASHISH GUPTA
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

It is my proud privilege to put on my gratitude to all those who help

during my project development period. I would like to add a few heart felt
words for the people who are the part of this project in numerous ways.
People who gave unending support right from the stage, the seminar report
idea were conceived.

I am sincerely thankful to Mrs. Poonam Luthra, who helped me to

choose this seminar report and under the supervision of whom I was able to
complete this project in time because of the infrastructure and facilities
provided while working on this project.

ASHISH GUPTA
 STUDENT’S PREVIEW

Name - Ashish Gupta

Father’s Name - Sh. Shyam Lal Gupta
Class - M.B.A. (1st Semester))
Roll No. - 09/MBA/02
College - ROYAL INSTITUTE OF MANAGE-
MENT & TECHNOLOGY
Seminar Title - “RETAIL IN INDIA”
 CERTIFICATE

This is certified that ASHISH GUPTA S|O SH.SHYAM LAL GUPTA is a

bonafied student of this college.

He has submitted his seminar report on

“RETAIL IN INDIA”
in partial fulfillment of his M.B.A. (1ST Semester) degree course.

PRINCIPAL
 Introduction
.
The retail industry in India is of late often being hailed as one of
the sunrise sectors in the economy. AT Kearney, the well-known
international management consultancy, recently identified India as
the ‘second most attractive retail destination’ globally from among
thirty emergent markets. It has made India the cause of a good
deal of excitement and the cynosure of many foreign eyes. With a
contribution of 14% to the national GDP and employing 7% of the
total workforce (only agriculture employs more) in the country, the
retail industry is definitely one of the pillars of the Indian
economy.
 RETAIL

Retailing is the interface between the producer and the individual

consumer buying for personal consumption. This excludes direct
interface between the manufacturer and institutional buyers such
as the government and other bulk customers. A retailer is one who
stocks the producer’s goods and is involved in the act of selling it
to the individual consumer, at a margin of profit. As such, retailing
is the last link that connects the individual consumer with the
manufacturing and distribution chain

The retail industry is divided into:

RETAIL
INDUSTRY

ORGANISED UNORGANISED
SECTOR SECTOR

.
Organised retailing refers to trading activities undertaken by
licensed retailers, that is, those who are registered for sales tax,
income tax, etc. These include the corporate-backed hypermarkets
and retail chains, and also the privately owned large retail
businesses.
Organised retail is still in the stages of finding its feet in
India even now. Though organised trade makes up over 70-80% of
total trade in developed economies, India’s figure is low even in
comparison with other Asian developing economies like China,
Thailand, South Korea and Philippines, all of whom have figures
hovering around the 20-25% mark.
Unorganised retailing, on the other hand, refers to the
traditional formats of low-cost retailing, for example, the local
kirana shops, owner manned general stores, paan/beedi shops,
convenience stores, hand cart and pavement vendors, etc. Part of
unorganized sector in Indian retail is as follows:

1.) Unorganized retailing is by far the prevalent form of trade in

India –constituting 98% of total trade, while organised trade
accounts only for the remaining 2%. Estimates vary widely about
the true size of the retail business in India. AT Kearney estimated
it to be Rs. 4,00,000 crores and poised to double in 2005.
2.) On the other hand, if one used the Government’s figures the
retail trade in 2002-03 amounted to Rs. 3,82,000 crores. One thing
all consultants are agreed upon is that the total size of the
corporate owned retail business was Rs. 15,000 crores in 1999
and poised to grow to Rs.35,000 crores by 2005 and keep growing
at a rate of 40% per annum.
3.) In a recent presentation, FICCI has estimated the total retail
business to be Rs. 11,00,000 crores or 44% of GDP4. According
to this report dated Nov. 2003, sales now account for 44% of the
total GDP and food sales account for 63%of the total retail sales,
increasing to Rs.100 billion from just Rs. 38.1 billion in 1996.
 EMPLOYMENT IN RETAILING

A simple glance at the employment numbers is enough to paint a

good picture of the relative sizes of these two forms of trade in
India – organized trade employs roughly 5 lakh people whereas
the unorganized retail trade employs nearly 3.95 crores5!
According to a GoI study the number of workers in retail trade in
1998 was almost 175 lakhs. Given the recent numbers indicated by
other studies, this is only indicative of the magnitude of expansion
the retail trade is experiencing, both due to economic expansion as
well as the ‘jobless growth’ that we have seen in the past decade.
It must be noted that even within the organised sector, the number
of individually-owned retail outlets far outnumber the corporate
backed institutions. Though these numbers translate to
approximately 8% of the workforce in the country (half the normal
share in developed countries) there are far more retailers in India
than other countries in absolute numbers, because of the
demographic profile and the preponderance of youth, India’s work
force is proportionately much larger. That about 4% of India’s
population is in the retail trade says a lot about how vital this
business is to the socio-economic equilibrium in India.
 Retail as a ‘Forced Employment’ Sector:

It is important to understand how retailing works in our economy,

and what role it plays in the lives of its citizens, from a social as
well as an economic perspective. India still predominantly houses
the traditional formats of retailing, that is, the local kirana shop,
paan/beedi shop, hardware stores, weekly haats, convenience
stores, and bazaars, which together form the bulk. Most
importantly, Indian retail is highly fragmented, with about 11
million outlets operating in the country and only 4% of them being
larger than 500 square feet in size. Compare this with the figure of
just 0.9 million in the US, yet catering to more than 13 times of the
Indian retail market size.
According to the global consultancy firms AC Neilsen
and KSA Technopak, India has the highest shop density in the
world. In 2001 they estimated there were 11 outlets for every
1,000 people.7 Further, a report prepared byMcKinsey &
Company and the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) predicted
that global retail giants such as Tesco, Kingfisher, Carrefour and
Ahold were waiting in the wings to enter the retail arena. This
report also states that the Indian retail market holds the potential
of becoming a $300 billion per year market by 2010, provided the
sector is opened up significantly.8 It does not talk about creating
additional jobs however, which should be the prime concern of the
policy maker.
One of the principal reasons behind
the explosion of retail and its fragmented nature in the country is
the fact that retailing is probably the primary form of disguised
unemployment/underemployment in the country. Given the already
over-crowded agriculture sector, and the stagnating
manufacturing sector, and the hard nature and relatively low
wages of jobs in both, many million Indians are virtually forced
into the services sector. Here, given the lack of opportunities, it is
almost a natural decision for an individual to set up a small shop
or store, depending on his or her means and capital. And thus, a
retailer is born, seemingly out of circumstance rather than choice.
This phenomenon quite aptly explains the millions of kirana shops
and small stores. The explosion of retail outlets in the more busy
streets of Indian villages and towns is a visible testimony of this.
The presence of more than one retailer for
every hundred persons is indicative of the lack of economic
opportunities that is forcing people into this form of self-
employment, even though much of it is marginal. Because of this
fragmentation, the Indian retail sector typically suffers from
limited access to capital, labour and real estate options. The
typical traditional retailer follows the low-cost-and-size format,
functioning at a small-scale level, rarely eligible for tax and
following a cheap model of operations.
As on January 1st of this year, there were 413.88 lakhs job
seekers registered at the Employment Exchange9. They register at
the exchange, to enjoy the benefits and security that a job in the
organised sector provides – lifetime employment, pension, and
union membership etc. But over the period 1992-93 to 2001-02,
only a total of 30,000 jobs have been added in the organised
sector in the whole country10
Therefore, they find jobs in the informal sector, mostly
in retail. Retailing is by far the easiest business to enter, with low
capital and infrastructure needs, and as such, performs a vital
function in the economy as a social security net for the
unemployed. India, being a free and democratic country, provides
its people with this cushion of being able to make a living for
oneself through self-employment, as opposed to an economy like
China, where employment is regulated. Yet, even this does not
annul the fact that a multitude of these so-called ‘self-employed’
retailers are simply trying to scrape together a living, in the face
of limited opportunities for employment. In this light, one could
brand this sector as one of “forced employment”, where the
retailer is pushed into it, purely because of the paucity of
opportunities in other sectors.
 WORLD’S LARGEST RETAILER
The largest retailer in the world ‘Wal-Mart’ has a turnover of $
256 bn. And is growing annually at an average of 12-13%. In
2004 its net profit was $ 9,000 mn. It had 4806 stores employing
1.4 mn persons. Of these 1355 were outside the USA. The average
size of a Wal-mart is 85,000 sq.ft and the average turnover of a
store was about $ 51 mn. The turnover per employee averaged $
175,000. In 2004 Wal-Mart had a 9% return on assets and 21%
return on equity. By contrast the average Indian retailer had a
turnover of Rs. 186,075. Only 4% of the 12 million retail outlets
were larger than 500 sq.ft in size. The total turnover of the
unorganized retail sector was Rs. 735,000 crores employing 39.5
mn persons.
Let alone the average Indian retailer in the unorganized
sector, no Indian retailer in the organised sector will be able to
meet the onslaught from a firm such as Wal-Mart – when it comes.
With its incredibly deep pockets Wal-Mart will be able to sustain
losses for many years till its immediate competition is wiped out.
This is a normal predatory strategy used by large players to drive
out small and dispersed competition. This entails job losses by the
millions. India has 35 towns each with a population over 1 million.
If Wal-Mart were to open an average Wal-Mart store in each of
these cities and they reached the average Wal-Mart performance
per store – we are looking at a turnover of over Rs. 80,330 mn
with only 10195 employees.
Extrapolating this with the average trend in
India, it would mean displacing about 4,32,000 persons. If large
FDI driven retailers were to take 20% of the retail trade, as the
now somewhat hard-pressed Hindustan Lever Limited anxiously
anticipates, this would mean a turnover of Rs.800 billion on
today’s basis. This would mean an employment of just 43,540
persons displacing nearly eight million persons employed in the
unorganized retail sector .
With possible implications of this magnitude, a
great deal of prudence should go into policymaking. Rather we
seem to moving towards a policy steamrolled obviously by vested
interests acting in concert with the CII & FICCI. We need to take
a deep hard look at FDI in the retail sector. In this context we
must be concerned about the statement the Finance Minister, Mr.
P. Chidambaram, made while making the mid year review for
2004-05. “On retail, the review notes that creating an effective
supply chain from the producer to the consumer is critical for
development of many sectors, particularly processed and semi-
processed agro-products. In this context, it says, the role that
could be played by organised retail chains, including international
ones merits careful attention.”
 FDI IN RETAIL

Given this backdrop, the recent clamour about

opening up the retail sector to Foreign Direct Investment (FDI)
becomes a very sensitive issue, with arguments to support both
sides of the debate. It is widely acknowledged that FDI can have
some positive results on the economy, triggering a series of
reactions that in the long run can lead to greater efficiency and
improvement of living standards, apart from greater integration
into the global economy. Supporters of FDI in retail trade talk of
how ultimately the consumer is benefited by both price reductions
and improved selection, brought about by the technology and
know-how of foreign players in the market. This in turn can lead to
greater output and domestic consumption.
But the most important factor against FDI driven
“modern retailing” is that it is labour displacing to the extent that
it can only expand by destroying the traditional retail sector. Till
such time we are in a position to create jobs on a large scale in
manufacturing, it would make eminent sense that any policy that
results in the elimination of jobs in the unorganised retail sector
should be kept on hold.
Though most of the high decibel arguments in favour
of FDI in the retail sector are not without some merit, it is not fully
applicable to the retailing sector in India, or at least, not yet. This
is because the primary task of government in India is still to
provide livelihoods and not create so called efficiencies of scale by
creating redundancies.
As per present regulations, no FDI is permitted in
retail trade in India. Allowing 49% or 26% FDI (which have been
the proposed figures till date) will have immediate and dire
consequences. Entry of foreign players now will most definitely
disrupt the current balance of the economy, will render millions of
small retailers jobless by closing the small slit of opportunity
available to them. Imagine if Wal-Mart, the world’s biggest
retailer sets up operations in India at prime locations in the 35
large cities and towns that house more than 1 million people13.
The supermarket will typically sell everything, from vegetables to
the latest electronic gadgets, at extremely low prices that will most
likely undercut those in nearby local stores selling similar goods.
Wal-Mart would be more likely to source its raw materials from
abroad, and procure goods like vegetables and fruits directly from
farmers at preordained quantities and specifications. This means a
foreign company will buy big from India and abroad and be able
to sell low – severely undercutting the small retailers. Once a
monopoly situation is created this will then turn into buying low
and selling high.
 Such re-orientation of sourcing of materials will
completely disintegrate the already established supply chain. In
time, the neighbouring traditional outlets are also likely to fold
and perish, given the ‘predatory’ pricing power that a foreign
player is able to exert. As Nick Robbins wrote in the context of the
East India Company, “By controlling both ends of the chain, the
company could buy cheap and sell dear”14. The producers and
traders at the lowest level of operations will never find place in
this sector, which would now have demand mostly only for fluent
English-speaking helpers. Having been uprooted from their
traditional form of business, these persons are unlikely to be
suitable for other areas of work either.
It is easy to visualise from the discussion above,
how the entry of just one big retailer is capable of destroying a
whole local economy and send it hurtling down a spiral. One must
also not forget how countries like China, Malaysia and Thailand,
who opened their retail sector to FDI in the recent past, have been
forced to enact new laws to check the prolific expansion of the new
foreign malls and hypermarkets. Given their economies of scale
and huge resources, a big domestic retailer or any new foreign
player will be able to provide their merchandise at cheaper rates
than a smaller retailer. But stopping an Indian retailer from
growing bigger is something current public policy cannot do,
whereas the State does have the prerogative in whether foreign
entry in the retail sector should be stalled or not.
It is true that it is in the consumer’s best interest
to obtain his goods and services at the lowest possible price. But
this is a privilege for the individual consumer and it cannot, in any
circumstance, override the responsibility of any society to provide
economic security for its population. Clearly collective well-being
must take precedence over individual benefits.
 EFFECTS OF FDI INDULDGEMENT

If you assume 40 mn adults in the retail sector, it would translate

into around 160 million dependents using a 1:4 dependency ratio.
Opening the retailing sector to FDI means dislocating millions
from their occupation, and pushing a lot of families under the
poverty line. Plus, one must not forget that the western concept of
efficiency is maximizing output while minimizing the number of
workers involved – which will only increase social tensions in a
poor and yet developing country like India, where tens of millions
are still seeking gainful employment.
This dislocated and unemployed horde has to be
accommodated somewhere else. But if you look at the growth rates
of labour in manufacturing and industry, you wonder where this
new accommodation can be found? Agriculture already employs
nearly 60% of our total workforce, and is in dire need of shedding
excess baggage. That leaves us with manufacturing as the only
other alternative. With only 17% of our total workforce already
employed in industry, which contributes altogether only 21.7% of
our GDP, this sector can hardly absorb more without a major
expansion.
So far Indian economy has been heavily geared
towards the service sector that contributes 56% of our GDP. The
service sector’s contribution to the increase in GDP over the last 5
years has been 63.9%. Having a high contribution from services is
an attribute that is characteristic of developed economies. What is
anomalous in the Indian case is the fact that in other fast
developing economies, say China, manufacturing accounts for a
significant share of GDP, whereas in India, manufacturing
contributes a mere 23.1% of the GDP.
it is evident that the manufacturing sector has
been the engine for economic growth in China, which has been
growing at 10.1% since 199116. In India, the credit for its 5.9%
growth over the corresponding period goes mostly to the service
sector. Ironically it would seem that the Indian economy is getting
a post-industrial profile without having been industrialised!
Retailing is not an activity that can boost
GDP by itself. It is only an intermediate value-adding process. If
there aren’t any goods being manufactured, then there will not be
many goods to be retailed! This underlines the importance of
manufacturing in a developing economy. One could argue that the
alarmingly low contribution of industry is attributable to the
structural adjustments going on the sector, getting rid of the flab
and getting ready to compete, but that still cannot undermine the
seriousness of the issue at hand, in that only 6.215 million out of
productive cohort of 600 million is employed in organised
manufacturing. Only until the tardy growth of the manufacturing
sector is addressed properly and its productivity chart starts to
look prettier, could one begin thinking of dislocating some of the
retailing workforce into this space. Until that day, disturbing the
hornet’s nest would be one very painful experience for the
economy.
 Recommendations:
1. The retail sector in India is severely constrained by limited
availability of bank finance. The Government and RBI need to
evolve suitable lending policies that will enable retailers in the
organised and unorganised sectors to expand and improve
efficiencies. Policies that encourage unorganised sector retailers
to migrate to the organised sector by investing in space and
equipment should be encouraged.

2. A National Commission must be established to study the

problems of the retail sector and to evolve policies that will enable
it to cope with FDI – as and when it comes.

3. The proposed National Commission should evolve a clear set of

conditionalities on giant foreign retailers on the procurement of
farm produce, domestically manufactured merchandise and
imported goods.
These conditionalities must be aimed at
encouraging the purchase of goods in the domestic market, state
the minimum space, size and specify details like, construction and
storage standards, the ratio of floor space to parking space etc.
Giant shopping centres must not add to our existing urban snarl.
4. Entry of foreign players must be gradual and with social
safeguards so that the effects of the labour dislocation can be
analysed & policy finetuned. Initially allow them to set up
supermarkets only in metros. Make the costs of entry high and
according to specific norms and regulations so that the retailer
cannot immediately indulge in ‘predatory’ pricing.

5. In order to address the dislocation issue, it becomes imperative

to develop and improve the manufacturing sector in India. There
has been a substantial fall in employment by the manufacturing
sector, to the extent of 4.06 lakhs over the period 1998 to 2001,
while its contribution to the GDP has grown at an average rate of
only 3.7%17. If this sector is given due attention, and allowed to
take wings, then it could be a source of great compensation to the
displaced workforce from the retail industry.

6. The government must actively encourage setting up of co-

operative stores to procure and stock their consumer goods and
commodities from small producers. This will address the dual
problem of limited promotion and marketing ability, as well as
market penetration for the retailer. The government can also
facilitate the setting up of warehousing units and cold chains,
thereby lowering the capital costs for the small retailers.
7. According to IndiaInfoline.com, agro products and food
processing sector in India is responsible for $69.4 billion out of
the total $180 billion retail sector (these are 2001 figures). This is
more than just a sizeable portion of the pie and what makes it even
more significant is the fact that in this segment, returns are likely
to be much higher for any retailer. Prices for perishable goods like
vegetables, fruits, etc. are not fixed (as opposed to, say, branded
textiles) and therefore, this is where economies of scale are likely
to kick in and benefit the consumer in the form of lower prices. But
due attention must be given to the producer too. Often the
producer loses out, for example, when the goods are procured at
Rs.2 and ultimately sold to the consumer at about Rs.15 as in the
case of tomatoes now. The Government themselves can tap into the
opportunities of this segment, rather than letting it be lost to
foreign players. And by doing so, they can more directly ensure
the welfare of producers and the interest of the consumers.

8. Set up an Agricultural Perishable Produce Commission

(APPC), to ensure that procurement prices for perishable
commodities are fair to farmers and that they are not distorted
with relation to market prices.
Recommendations for the Food Retail Sector:

With 3.6 million shops retailing food and employing 4% of total

workforce and contributing 10.9% to GDP18, the food-retailing
segment presents a focused opportunity to the Government to
catalyze growth & employment.

1. Provision of training in handling, storing, transporting,

grading, sorting, maintaining hygiene standards, upkeep of
refrigeration equipment, packing, etc. is an area where ITI’s and
SISI’s can play a proactive role.

2. Creation of infrastructure for retailing at mandis, community

welfare centers, government and private colonies with a thrust on
easier logistics and hygiene will enable greater employment and
higher hygiene consciousness, and faster turnaround of transport
and higher rollover of produce.

3. Quality regulation, certification & price administration bodies

can be created at district and lower levels for upgrading the
technical and human interface in the rural to urban supply chain.
4. Credit availability for retail traders must be encouraged with a
view to enhancing employment and higher utilization of fixed
assets. This would lead to less wastage (India has currently the
highest wastage in the world) of perishables, enhance nutritional
status of producers and increase caloric availability.

5. Several successful models of integrating very long food supply

chains in dairy, vegetable, fish and fruit have been evolved in
India. These one off interventions can be replicated in all states,
segments and areas. Cross integrations of these unique food
supply chains will provide new products in new markets
increasing consumer choice, economic activity and employment.
6. Government intervention in food retail segment is necessitated
by:

a) The lack of any other body at remote/grassroots level.

b) Need to provide market for casual and distant self-employed
growers and gatherers.
c) Maintain regulatory standards in hygiene.
d) Seek markets in India and abroad (provide charter aircrafts,
freeze frying, vacuuming, dehydrating, packing facilities for
small producers at nodal points).
e) Provide scope and opportunity for productive self-
employment (since Govt. can’t provide employment).
At a subsequent stage, these interventions can be integrated into
the supply chains of the foreign retailers in India and abroad,
creating synergy between national priorities, market realities,
globalization, and private-public cooperation. In this fashion, the
Government can try to ensure that the domestic and foreign
players are approximately on an equal footing and that the
domestic traders are not at an especial disadvantage. The small
retailers must be given ample opportunity to be able to provide
more personalized service, so that their higher costs are not duly
nullified by the presence of big supermarkets and hypermarkets.
 BIBLIOGRAPHY

1. INDIAN RETAIL BY SINGHAL AND ARVIND

2. RETAIL INDUSTRY IN INDIA BY GANGULY AND SABY
3. EXPERIENCE OF NATIONAL CONFERENCE ATTENDED
AT N.C.COLLEGE,ISRANA
4. WWW.CPASIND.COM
5. WWW.FICCI.COM