Importance Of Retailing In India

India is supposed to be the retailing hub for various goods and products with the highest density of variety of shops. The Indian retail industry was and continues to be, highly fragmented due to its organized and unorganized retailing. Retailing activity is fast growing and changing in India in the recent past, which is started with economic reforms, liberalization and globalization. Owing to an economic reform, India may not be able to stop entry of foreign retailers or foreign direct investment (FDI) in the retail sector. The organized retailing is a recent development in India; it refers to corporate backed and retail chains and hypermarket and privately owned large retail shops. Corporate players in organized retailing are few in India;

Retailing plays a crucial role in the process of economic development by value addition, employment generation, equitable distribution of national income, mobilization of capital and entrepreneurial skills. The retail sector is expanding and modernizing rapidly in line with India’s economic growth. It offers significant employment opportunities, employing 7 % of the total workforce (only agriculture employs more) in the country. The total retail business in India will grow at 13 % annually from US $ 322 billion in 2006-07 to US $ 590 billion in 2011-12 and one of the top five retail markets in the world by economic value. India is one of the fastest growing retail markets in the world, with 1.2 billion people. Recognizing the important role, that, retail sector play in the national economy, the Central and State Governments have taken active steps to promote and foster their growth. The government policy is favorable to FDI in the retailing sector in phased manner so as to avoid opposition to such entry by domestic retailers. These measures have been particularly effective; but many of the problems/Controversy over Indian retail reforms still continues to afflict the retail sectors. Through in the 1990s, India introduced widespread free market reforms, including some related to retails, between 2000 to 2010, consumers in selected Indian cities have gradually begun to experience the quality, choice, convenience and benefits of organized retail industry. The Chief Minister of Maharashtra, the state with the highest GDP in India and home to its financial capital Mumbai has also welcomed the retail reform. India has about 11 shop outlets for every 1000 peoples. Vast majority of the unorganized retail shops in India employ family members, do not have the scale to procure or transport products at high volume wholesale level, have limited to no quality control or