INTRODUCTION

The word Retail is in fact derived from the French word retailer, which means to cut off a piece or to break bulk :. A retailer may be defined as a dealer or trader who repeatedly sells well in small quantities. Retailing is one of the pillars of the economy in India and accounts for 13% of GDP. It is divided into two parts: organised and unorganised. Indian retail industry is expected to grow by 25% every year being driven by high income, changing lifestyle and favourable demographic patterns. The sale of goods or commodities in small quantities directly to consumers is known as retail. The retail industry in India comprised of large, medium and small grocery stores and drug stores which could be categorized as unorganized retailing. Most of the organized retailing in India had recently started and was mainly concentrated in metropolitan cities. Retailing is the second largest industry in the US in terms of no of people employed like the US, many developed and developing economies rely on this sector for growth. The retailing industry seems poised for a significant growth in the coming years owing to the presence of a vast market growing consumer awareness about product quality and services, higher disposable income of consumers and the desire to try out new products. In the past couple of years, the organized, multi outlet retailing concept had gained acceptance in India. Leading global retailers such as Wal Mart, Tesco, and others have entered the Indian retailing industry. According to the global retail development index of 2005 conducted by AT Kearney, India was ranked no 1 among 30 most attractive retailing destinations across the globe. . Organised retail sector refers to the huge supermarkets and hypermarkets that are backed by the big corporate houses. The unorganised retail sector or the traditional retail sector of India includes the kirana shop, paan shops etc. The retail sector in India provides employment to many people in both organized and unorganized sector. The organized retailing sector in India started picking up in south India in cities like Chennai and Hyderabad where real estate at prime locations was available at cheaper rates then in cities like Mumbai and Delhi. The major Indian retailers are Pantaloon Retail India Limited (PRIL) which is one of the leading retail outlets in India, customers feedback and customer satisfaction are the key focus at PRIL, RPG group which has more than 20 companies in seven different industries power, tyres, retail, transmission, entertainment, technology, and specialties sectors, TATA group which is one of the largest business houses in India, they also have more than 93 companies in seven business sectors namely information systems and communications, engineering, materials, services, energy, consumer products, and chemicals, RAHEJA group is among Indias largest real estate players, they launched Shoppers Stop and they were among the first retailers in India to realize the importance of supply chain management in the operations of a retail business.

PRESENT SCENERIO OF RETAIL INDUSTRY IN INDIA

Retail in India is still at a very early stage. Most retail firms are companies from other industries that are now entering the retail sector on account of its amazing potential. There are only a handful of companies with a retail background. One such company is Nilgiris from Bangalore that started as a dairy and incorporated other areas in its business with great success. Their achievement has led to the arrival of numerous other players, most with the backing of large groups, but usually not with a retail background. Most new entrants to the India retail scene are real estate groups who see their access to and knowledge of land, location and construction as prime factors for entering the market. New retail stores have traditionally started operations in cities like Mumbai and Delhi where there has been an existing base of metropolitan consumers with ready cash and global tastes. The new perspective to this trend is that new entrants to the retail scenario should first enter smaller cities rather than focusing entirely on the metros. Spending power in India is not concentrated any more in just the 4 metros (Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata). Smaller but upcoming cities like Chandigarh, Coimbatore, Pune, Ahmadabad, Baroda, Trivandrum, Cochin, Ludhiana, Simla etc will fast be catching up to the metros in their spending capacity. Cities in south India have taken to the supermarket style of shopping very eagerly and so far the maximum number of organized grocery and department stores are in Chennai, Bangalore and Hyderabad. The north has a long way to go to come up to par. International stores now prefer to gauge the reaction of the public in these cities before investing heavily in a nation-wide expansion. Milou, the Swiss childrens wear retailer, recently opened up its first store in Chennai, bypassing Delhi and Mumbai. Besides the urban market, Indias rural market has just started to be seen a viable option and companies who understand what the rural consumer wants will grow to incredible heights. The bulk of Indias population still live in rural areas and to be able to cater specifically to them will mean generating tremendous amounts of business. Business, specifically retail business must focus on the most important factor in the Indian mind-set----Value for Money. Indian consumers are ready to pay almost any amount of money for a product or service as long as they feel they are getting good Value for Money. This is often misconstrued as being tight fisted or interested in lower priced and/or lower quality products. In the past decade, international companies entering India (Levis, Pepe, Tommy Hilfiger, Marks and Spencer, Mango) have generally offered moderately priced to expensive items. They have aimed for the upper-middle and rich classes of Indian society. These are consumers who travel abroad often and can buy these items overseas quite easily. Instead, international companies should be focusing on the lower and lower-middle classes of India. This is where the real potential is, the aspirational class of consumers who want to lead a better lives and believe in education, hard work and absorb knowledge from every possible angle. The phenomenal success of Big Bazaar, Pantaloons version of Wal-Mart, is proof that there is enormous potential in providing products and services to this class of consumers.

Indians are very curious by nature and will try everything at least once before rejecting it. The initial successes of KFC in India proved that Indians could make a success of most new ventures entering India but reject a concept once they have tried and tested the offering and found nothing worth going back for. The menu at KFC was rather boring and insipid to the Indian consumer who is used to the innumerable combinations and permutations of street food. For their second run in India, KFC re-thought its menu and has been very successful marketing at specific groups within India, like the Punjabis who have quite a history of loving the Chicken leg and have made the Chandigarh outlet a huge success! A company entering India cannot have just one game plan to apply to the entire country as the people, their tastes, the lifestyle, the budgets etc are all too divergent. International entrants must enter each market specifically focusing only on that area to be successful. Metros: Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata Second rung but will soon outpace metros: Hyderabad, Bangalore, Ahmadabad, Gurgoan, Pune, Baroda Small and developing fast: Chandigarh, Coimbatore, Trivandrum, Faridabad, Ludhiana, Cochin, Simla, Mysore

DIFFERENCES BETWEEN ORGANISED AND UNORGANISED RETAIL

The major differences between organized and unorganized retailing lies in its number (chain) of store operations. An unorganized outlet may be just stand alone or can have maximum of 2-3 outlets in a city, where as the organized outlets are "any retail chain(more than two outlets)which is professionally managed (even if its family run), has a accounting transparency (with proper usage of MIS and accounting standards) and organized SCM with centralized quality control and sourcing (certain parts can be locally made) can be termed as an "organized retailing" in India. Retailing in India is predominantly unorganized. According to a survey by AT Kearney, an overwhelming proportion of the Rs. 400,000 crore retail markets is UNORGANISED. In fact, only a Rs. 20,000 crore segment of the market is organized. We are known as a nation of shopkeepers with over 12 million, the highest outlet density in the world in the world with an estimated turnover of $ 200 billion. However a disturbing point here is that as much as 96 per cent of them are smaller than 500square feet in area. This means that India per capita retailing space is about 2 square feet (compared to 16 square feet in the United States). India's per capita retailing space is thus the lowest in the world. Another point to note is that only 8 % of our population is engaged in Retail whereas the global average is around 1012%.

PRESENT SCENARIO OF:PANTALOOMS

Pantaloon Retail (India) Limited, is a large Indian retailer, which is part of the Future Group, and operates multiple retail formats in both the value and lifestyle segment of the Indian consumer market. Headquartered in Mumbai, the company has over 1,000 stores across 71 cities in India and employs over 30,000 people [2], and as of 2010, it was the country's largest listed retailer by market capitalization and revenue [3]. With effect from 1 January 2010 the company separated its discount store business, which includes the Big Bazaar hypermarket and the Food Bazaar supermarket businesses, into Future Value Retail Ltd., its wholly owned subsidiary, so that the company may be listed independently [3][4]. The companys brands include Pantaloons, a chain of fashion outlets, Big Bazaar, a hypermarket chain and Food Bazaar, a supermarket chain. Some of the company's other regional brands include, Depot, Shoe Factory, Brand Factory, Blue Sky, aLL, Top 10 and Star and Sitara. A subsidiary company, Home Solutions Retail (India) Limited, operates Home Town, a largeformat home solutions store, Collection i, selling home furniture products and E-Zone focussed on catering to the consumer electronics segment.

RPG GROUP
The RPG Group one of India's largest industrial conglomerate headquartered in Mumbai, India. It was founded by RP Goenka in 1979, and initially encompassed Phillips Carbon Black, Asian Cables, Agarpara Jute and Murphy India. Currently, RP Goenka retains the title of Chairman Emeritus, while the chairmanship and vice-chairmanship have been assumed by his sons Harsh and Sanjeev Goenka, respectively. Today the RPG Group is involved in diverse sectors of business, including power generation, power transmission, information technology, retail, and entertainment. The group recorded a turnover of INR 11,500 crore (equivalent to INR 115 billion) for fiscal year 2007. The group has more than sixteen companies managing diverse business interests in the areas of Power, Tyre, Infrastructure , IT, Retail, Entertainment, Carbon Black and Speciality.

TATA GROUP
Tata companies operate in seven business sectors. This section details the companies and the business sectors they belong to, the products and services they offer, an overall roster of all Tata companies, and the mergers and acquisitions that Tata enterprises have been involved in since 2000. Tata companies operate in seven different business sectors: information systems and communications, engineering, materials, services, energy, consumer products and chemicals. Tata companies deliver a wide variety of products and services. This subsection lists these products and services under two heads: consumer products and services and business products and services The two Tata promoter companies and all the Tata companies and subsidiaries, with their profiles, the products and services they offer, and contact details. The mergers and acquisitions that Tata enterprises have been involved in since 2000.

SWOT ANALYSIS
STRENGTHS y y y y y y y Demographic favor Risisng disposable income Increase of people in erner category Urbanization Shopping convenience Low labor at cheaper rate Changing customer taste and lifestyle

WEAKNESS y y y y y Policy related issue Limited consumer Inadequate human resource Taxation hurrdle Underdeveloped supply chain

OPPURTUNITIES y Global retail giants take India as key market .It is rated fifth most attractive retail market. The organised retail sector is expected to grow stronger than GDP growth in the next five years driven by changing lifestyles, increase in income and favourable demographic outline. Food and apparel retailing are key drivers of growth. y Rural retailing is still unexploited Indian market.

THREATS y y Heavy initial investment is required to break even with other companies and compete with them. Retail today has changed from selling a product or a service to selling a hope, an aspiration and above all an experience that a consumer would like to repeat.

QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

Question 1. What are the existing retail formats in India? Comment on the emergence of the organised retailing in the last few years. List out the factors that led to the growth of the retail industry in India? Answer: The existing retail formats in India are of two types: organised and unorganised retail. Unorganised retail is dominant in India as it is the traditional form of retail. This is going on for ages. It includes all the small Kirana shops and the paan shops and any other shops for clothes etc. Thisis the oldest form of retailing in India. On the other hand there is organised retailing, which is coming up massively in India. Organised retailing is being taken up by a lot of corporates and they all have opened their stores in all the major cities of India. We can take examples of a lot of organised retailers that have made a mark in the market. Aditya Birla Group came up with their retailing chain called more. Today, this retail store is found in every area of every city in the country. It has around 1500 stores around the country and that makes it one of the largest retail stores in India. We can also talk about Reliance Fresh which is a retail outlet by Reliance Industries. It is a retailing chain for fruits and vegetables. Although, this was protested by the roadside vegetable vendors but today people prefer it and are enjoying the services. In Reliance Fresh, one can find cut vegetables that are properly wrapped with clean plastic polythene to maintain the freshness and hygiene of the food material. There are many factors that led to the growth of the organised retail industry in India. People started moving to cities for their jobs. Urbanisation started happening at a faster rate. People started getting more income than ever. Lifestyle of people started changing. Small towns started converting into cities, which had bigger areas and people wanted to buy all the things at a same place. All these factors started bringing change in the organised retail industry of India.

Question 2. Examine the reasons for the growing interest of multinationals in the Indian retail industry. What are the challenges that retailers like Wal-Mart or Carrefour could face when they enter India? What should the Indian retailers do to face the competition from such well-established retailers? ANS 2. There seems to be a considerable potential for the entry or expansion of specialized retail chains in the country. Therefore Multinational companies saw immense potential in the Indian Retail Industry. The Indian durable goods sector has seen the entry of a large number of foreign companies during the post liberalization period. A greater variety of consumer electronic items and household appliances became available to the Indian customer. Intense competition among companies to sell their brands provided a strong impetus to the growth for retailers doing business in this sector. Increasing household incomes due to better economic opportunities have encouraged consumer expenditure on leisure and personal goods in the country. There are specialized retailers for each category of products (books, music products, etc.) in this sector. Another prominent feature of this sector is popularity of franchising agreements between established manufacturers and retailers. A strong impetus to the growth of retail industry is witnessed by economic boom and driver of key trends in urban as well as rural India. Wal-Mart to closely manage the venture, and be patient in terms of how it works with Bharti. The Moreover, Wal-Mart brings a tremendous amount of supply chain and information technology intellectual property to the joint venture, which it will need to protect. This has been a challenge in the Indian context, and Wal-Mart needs to carefully understand the management ofrelationship from this specic dimension. IJRDM 36,9706. On the location dimension, the sheer market size makes India an attractive country,but one that is riddled with several limitations that need to be effectively managed for success. Indias population is over a billion (Table I). Although a large percentage of population is poor, the middle class has been estimated to include 300,000,000 people, larger than the total population of the US (Choi, 2006;The Economist, 2006). This is an immense advantage for Wal-Mart as there is a large population in the segment ittypically serves.