'India key market for global retailers despite policy hurdles'

Policy hurdles and other operational challenges notwithstanding, global retailers still consider India as one of their key markets as its growth has surpassed most other economies, said a report by Deloitte.

According to the report titled 'Global Powers of Retailing 2017', e-commerce channels, which are growing rapidly in India, are transforming the retail landscape of the country.

"Despite policy hurdles and other operational challenges, global retailers consider India as one of their key markets and want to grow as India grows. While growth has surpassed most of other global markets, India's retail market is young and promising," a Deloitte India spokesperson said.
 

The rapid shift to e-commerce is quite literally transforming the retail landscape in India.

"With e-commerce forming an integral part of the overall growth of retail sales, retailers are rationalising their physical footprint and intensifying their e-commerce presence.

"Use of technology and social media is going to be one of the critical factors among the retailers operating in a young, vast and fragmented market like India," the spokesperson added.

According to the report, top 250 global retailers generated aggregated revenues of USD 4.31 trillion in fiscal year 2015, representing composite growth of 5.2 per cent.

For the third year in a row, revenue growth for the top 250 apparel and accessories retailers outperformed other product sectors.

"Historically, this category of retailers has also been the most profitable, and fiscal year 2015 was no exception.

"However, retailers of FMCG are, by far, the largest companies (average retail revenue of nearly USD 21.6 billion) as well as the most numerous (133 retailers accounting for just over half of all top 250 companies and two-thirds of top 250 revenue)," the report said.

Deloitte Global Chief Economist Ira Kalish said, "Slow economic growth in major developed economies, high levels of debt in emerging countries, deflation or low inflation in rich countries and a protectionist backlash against globalisation were among dynamics which contributed to a challenging economic environment for retailers.