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.

Satisfactory outcome at G-20 summit.

Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh was back from the G-20 summit held at London recently with a smile. The outcome has been satisfactory, he said. President Obama, in his meeting with the PM, had credited Dr Singh with India’s growing financial stature in the world economy. Obama described the PM as a "wise and marvellous" man at an individual conference. President Obama even hailed India's "high stature" because it had "unleashed economic forces" and said a lot of it had to do with "the wisdom of Dr Singh".
Dr Singh’s efforts along with the other leaders at improving the economic climate seem to be paying off. According to Dr Singh, India too had provided a fiscal stimulus of about four percent of its GDP ie., approx. Rs 1,20,000 crore in 2008-09. This will help the country's growth rate to reach a little less than seven per cent, comparatively higher than most other economies. "We hope to be able to achieve a similar growth rate in 2009-10, with continuing reliance on monetary and fiscal policy. Active contra-cyclical policy must be a priority item on our agenda and global markets are looking to see if we are united on this issue," he said.
The agenda at the summit concluded with pumping of US$ 1.1 trillion into International Monetary Fund for providing stimulus for the revival of world business, removal of protectionist measures raids on tax havens and strengthening the global financial system through supervision.
Dr Singh reaffirmed India’s commitment to the said agenda and promised that more free trade agreements would be arrived at with countries. This would facilitate setting up of businesses in India and thereby improve the foreign direct investment flows. Recent industry research by IDC too reveals the growing optimism of Indian Chief Information Officers (CIOs) on bucking the economic slowdown and rejuvenating the economy earlier than anticipated.