Friday, August 21, 2009

Indian retail to see better days with revival in economy

The retail business in India is witnessing resurgence with novel ideas like revenue-sharing with realtors coming into prominence. The India advantage still holds in terms of lowered real estate prices helping retailers to consolidate their businesses. Several government policies released in the recent past is helping companies to push growth into positive territory.

Spencer’s, the retail arm of the Rs 15,000-crore RPG Enterprises, is pumping in Rs 100 crore to open 10 to 12 large format stores across the country during 2009-10. “These stores would be hypermarts and supermarts of the size of 10,000 sq ft to 30,000 sq ft and would be located in Chennai, Bangalore, Andhra Pradesh, Kolkata and NCR," said Sanjiv Goenka, vice-chairman of RPG Enterprises. For Spencer's too, Goenka is exploring the option of revenue-sharing model with realty owners for its new stores.

Future Group subsidiary Pantaloon Retail is planning a special purpose vehicle (SPV) to raise up to Rs 500 crore by offloading its non-core assets and is hoping to ensure that its restructuring plans are compliant with foreign direct investment (FDI) policy guidelines. At present, FDI is prohibited in multi-brand retailing, and only 51 per cent FDI is allowed in single-brand stores.

Watch and jewellery retailer, Titan Industries, is scaling up its retail operations to step up its retail presence. It plans to add 40 World of Titan stores across India by the end of 2009-10. It has lined up a slew of marketing initiatives to boost sales, which include 'Titan Exchange Offer 2009'.

AVG Technologies, global anti-virus maker, too is making its various anti-virus suites in several large format retail stores in India. Operating in India through its master distributor, Milestone Interactive, AVG products will now be available at retail outlets such as Croma, HyperCITY, Reliance Digital, jay Sales, Landmark and P3.

Industrial and manufacturing output improving the economic climate in June 2009 has helped overcome the effects of drought, according to the Finance Minister. This has resulted in improved retail sales and performance of several majors.

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