Over 30,000 Small Business Brands Rule India's Retail Trade Market

Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) yesterday in a statement said that more than 30,000 small and medium enterprises (SME) Indian brands are catering to India’s retail trade as compared to about 3,000 corporate brands present. This was particularly in the fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) sector.

If the government is required to support policies for the non-corporate sector and tightens the e-commerce companies to follow the policy and the law, the retail trade of the country will boost.

According to a recent survey of the CAIT Research and Trade Development Society (CRTDS), about 3000 corporate brands cater to the needs of almost 20 percent of the Indian population whereas more than 30 thousand small and medium brands are meeting the demand of the rest of the 80 per cent people.

CAIT National President B.C. Bhartia and Secretary General Praveen Khandelwal in a joint statement said, “Corporate brands are in demand among higher and upper-middle-class levels due to extensive media and outdoor publicity and brand endorsements by celebrities. However, the brands of small manufacturers are sold through one to one contact with customers and the shopkeepers. These small brands include products produced by small manufacturers whose products are sold across the country in loose quantities.”

Among those verticals of trade in which the survey was conducted included food grain, oil, Kirana items, personal cosmetics, innerwear, readymade garments, beauty and body care products, footwear, toys, educational games and health care.

"It reflects a reality that small brands are ruling the consumer market even with the predatory pricing and deep discounting by foreign e-commerce companies and efforts of certain FMCG companies to sideline the distributors' network. If the government is required to support policies for the non-corporate sector and tightens the e-commerce companies to follow the policy and the law, the retail trade of the country will boost,” said Bhartia and Khandewlwal.

India’s retail trade

India has some interesting numbers when it comes to Retail Trade. Looking at the market, the retail market size in India was expected to amount to1.7 trillion USD by 2026 up from 883 billion dollars in 2020.

The Indian retail market is a largely unorganised market however the organised retail market has increased by 50% during the phase 2012-2020 to its current value of nearly 12% of total retail. This unorganised market is growing at a pace of about 20% and has a market size of USD 500 billion and employs about 40 million Indians; this is 3.3% of the Indian population. Retail India is the second largest employer in India after agriculture. While an overall increase was noted up to 2019, 2020 marked a decrease due to the coronavirus pandemic. Nevertheless, the market has recovered from 2021 and is faring well.

The brick and mortar (B&M) India’s offline retail market revenue is expected to increase by USD 1.39 to 2.77 billion which in Indian currency is Rs. 10,000-12000 Crore.

How many retailers are there in India?

By 2021 there will be an estimated more than 12.8 million retail grocery retailers across India. Falling with the segment this included the traditional and the modern retailers. While there was a consistent growth in numbers since 2013, it was largely made of traditional stores.

Retail industry of the world

The global numbers are impressive, global retail sales were projected to amount to around 31.7 trillion USD by 2025, up from approximately 23.74 trillion USD in 2020. While that was the projected numbers let look at the numbers that made it. In 2019 the global retail market generated sales of nearly 25 trillion USD with forecasts to reach close to 27 trillion USD by 2022.

Despite the biggest blow of recent times, the pandemic, 2021-2022 was the year of rising sustainability. It proved the global retail industry can face some strong economic headwinds; major companies which bagged it with numbers were Wal-Mart, Costco, Kroger, Amazon Inc and Home Depot. In the developed economies like Europe and North America the global retail industry is mature and highly competitive.