“68 per cent of the country’s GDP growth is from private consumption and private consumption is the biggest hope for the Indian retail industry because Indian consumers have big dreams, jobs and stable employment with comparatively higher disposable income,” says Ireena Vittal, partner, McKinsey. She was speaking on the current economic conditions and the retail industry at CII Retail Summit in Mumbai.
Discussing why the retail industry matters to India, Vittal said, “India is a young country and the working population will keep growing, thus the need to create 20 million jobs each year. For every job in retail, 7-9 jobs in support infrastructure are created.”
Further commenting on what will it take to ensure that the Indian retail industry succeeds, she added, “Three critical enablers for retail success in India are shared understanding of success amongst the various stakeholders in the retail industry, seamless collaboration across the entire value chain and building critical capabilities to ensure profitable growth and flexibility.”
Sharing views on what will ensure Indian retail industry’s success, Vittal concluded, “Government should declare retail as an essential service; licensing needs to be simplified with single window clearance; common supply chain for sourcing in specific categories need to be established; promotion intensity in the market needs to be managed, joint investments should be done for increasing training capabilities and pricing policies need to be clarified apart from developing a core merchandise platform.”
—IndiaRetailing Bureau
