Foreign Direct Investment, or FDI, is a measure of foreign ownership of domestic productive assets such as factories, land and organizations.

Foreign direct investments have become the major economic driver of globalization, accounting for over had of all cross-border investments.
The most profound effect has been seen in in developing countries, where yearly foreign direct investment flows have increased from an average of less than $10 billion in the 1970s to a yearly average of less than $20 billion the 1980s. From 1998 to 1999 itself, FDI grew from $179 billion to $208 billion and now comprise a large portion of global FDI. According to UNCTAD, spurred on by mergers and acquisitions and the internationalization of production in a range of industries, inward FDI for developing countries rose from $481 billion in 1998 to $636 billion in 2006. And China is at the forefront of FDI growth, followed by Russia, Brazil and Mexico.

Image: The Economist FDIs do not only provide an foreign capital and funds, but also provides domestic countries with an exchange of skill sets, information and expertise, job opportunities and improved productivity levels.

The "Asian Tiger" economies such as China, South Korea, Singapore and the Philippines benefitted tremendously and experienced high levels of economic growth at the onset of foreign direct investment into their economies. Given the high growth rates and changes to global investment patterns, the definition to FDI has evolved to include foreign mergers and acquisitions, investments in joint ventures or strategic alliances with local enterprises.

With the advent and growth of the internet, many traditional cases of FDI which required huge amount of capital and physical investments are slowly becoming obsolete, especially for developed countries. The rise of small internet startups that require less research and development investment and the shift towards knowledge based economies, where the emphasis is placed on human capital rather than manual labour, has altered the playing field for FDIs. Trends in Foreign Direct Investment (FDI)
Historically, FDI has been directed at developing nations as firms from advanced economies invested in other markets, with the US capturing most of the FDI inflows. While developed countries still account for the largest share of FDI inflows, data shows that the stock and flow of FDI has increased and is moving towards developing nations, especially in the emerging economies around the world. Aside from using FDIs as investment channel and a method to reduce operating costs, many companies and organizations are now looking at FDI was a way to internationalize. FDIs allow companies to avoid governmental pressure on local production and cope with protectionist measures by circumventing trade barriers. The move into local markets also ensures that companies are closer to their consumer market, especially if companies set up locally-based (national) sales offices.

Top 10 Retailers in India chillibreeze writer Pooja Teckchandani Miss D'souza rubs her nose as her specks annoy her; she calls out to Shanta Bhai. I am leaving for work; please make sure you do the vegetable shopping today, as I will be getting late. Shanta Bhai mutters & just nods. Oh god, I will have to go and bargain with these bhajiwalas because madam is so particular about the price. Then she realized actually its not such a bad thing, a new supermarket is open nearby. Ill go there, roam in the mall and also shop in convenience of AC and no bargaining also. Grocery shopping will actually be fun!
Looking for more info

In the supermarket, she realized they had good price bargains and was thrilled. She was going to earn some brownie points with Ms D'souza for purchasing at such cheap rates.

Read our more comprehensive report on the Retail Scene in India at: India-Reports

Our very own Shanta Bhai signifies the Indian consumer of today who wants the right price, ambience and good quality all under one roof. The lifestyle and mindset-change of the Indian customer has led to a spur in the retail industry with the total private consumption in 2006 clocking Rs.20,000 billion according to the Indian Retail Report 2007. Cities like Mumbai, Bangalore, New Delhi, Hyderabad, and Pune have around 40 malls as of today, which is expected to touch 250 by 2010 (KPMG report). The Indian retail industry is valued at $270 billion, with organised retail cornering 4.5 %. The organized pie is expected to see a growth at a CAGR of 37 % (India Retail Report 2007)

Source: India Retail Report Top players: 1. Pantaloon Retail: It is headquartere d in Mumbai with 450 stores across the country employing more than 18,000 people. It can boast of launching the first hypermarket Big Bazaar in India in 2001. An all-India retail space of 5 million sq. ft. which is expected to reach 30 mn by 2010. It is not only the largest retailer in India with a turnover of over Rs. 20 billion but is present across most retail segments - Food & grocery (Big bazaar, Food bazaar), Home solutions (Hometown, furniture bazaar, collection-i), consumer electronics (e-zone), shoes (shoe factory), Books: music & gifts (Depot), Health & Beauty care services (Star, Sitara and Health village in the pipeline), e-tailing (Futurbazaar.com), entertainment (Bowling co.) One of their recent innovations include e-commerce hybrid format of small shops , the area for these stores will be 150 sq. ft. fitted with 40 digital screens. Customers will be encouraged to browse through the entire range of products on digital screen. They will be able to place the order, the delivery of which will be arranged by the shop to their homes within a few hours 2. K Raheja Group They forayed into retail with Shoppers Stop, Indias first departmental store in 2001. It is the only retailer from India to become a member of the prestigious Intercontinental Group of Departmental Stores (IGDS). They have signed a 50:50 joint venture with the Nuance Group for Airport Retailing. Shoppers Stop has 7, 52, 00 sq ft of retail space with a turnover of Rs 6.75 billion. The first Hypercity opened in Mumbai in 2006 with an area of 1, 20,000 sq. ft. clocking gross sales of Rs. 1 bn in its first year. Crossword brand of book stores, Homes stop a store for home solutions, Mothercare a concept stocking merchandise related to childcare are also owned by them. Recently, Rahejas have signed an MoU with the Home Retail Group of UK to enter into a franchise arrangement for the Argos formats of catalogue & internet retailing.

The group has announced plans to establish a network of 55 hypermarkets across India with sales expected to cross the US$100 million mark by 2010. 3. Tata group: Established in 1998, Trent - one of the subsidiaries of Tata Group - operates Westside, a lifestyle retail chain and Star India Bazaar - a hypermarket with a large assortment of products at the lowest prices. In 2005, it acquired Landmark, India's largest book and music retailer. Trent has more than 4 lakh sq. ft. space across the country. Westside registered a turnover of Rs 3.58 mn in 2006. Tatas has also formed a subsidiary named Infiniti retail which consists of Croma, a consumer electronics chain. It is a 15000-17000 sq. ft. format with 8 stores as of September 2007. Another subsidiary, Titan Industries, owns brands like Titan, the watch of India has 200 exclusive outlets the country and Tanishq, the jewellery brand, has 87 exclusive outlets. Their combined turnover is Rs 6.55 billion. Trent plans to open 27 more stores across its retail formats adding 1.5 mn sq ft of space in the next 12 DLF malls. 4. RPG group: One of the first entrants into organised food & grocery retail with Foodworld stores in 1996 and then formed an alliance with Dairy farm International and launched health & glow (pharmacy & beauty care) outlets. Now the alliance has dissolved and RPG has Spencers Hyper, Super, Daily and Express formats and Music World stores across the country. RPG has 6 lakh sq. ft. of retail space and has registered a turnover of Rs 4.5 billion in 2006. It is planning to venture into books retail, with the launch of its own bookstores Books and Beyond by the end of 2007. An IPO is also in the offering, with expansion to 450+ MusicWorld, 50+ Spencer's hyper outlets covering 4 million sq. ft. by 2010. 5. Landmark group: were launched in 1998 in India. Lifestyle is spread across six cities, covering 4.6 lakh sq. ft. with a turnover of Rs 3.5 billion in 2005. A new division named Lifestyle International has emerged for their international brands business comprising Bossino, Kappa and Springfield in their portfolio. Their retail mix includes Home solutions (Home centre), fashion (lifestyle, landmark International), value retailing (max retail), hypermarkets & supermarkets (Max), kids entertainment (Funcity).

They plan to invest Rs. 300 crores in the next two years to expand on Max chain, and Rs 100 crores on Citymax 3 star hotel chain. They have already instituted a separate company christened Citymax Hotels (India). 6. Piramal Group In September 1999, Piramal Enterprises announced their arrival into retail with the launch of three retail concepts: India's first true shopping mall of international standards, called Crossroads; a lifestyle department store named Piramyd Megastore; and a family entertainment centre known as Jammin. Piramyd Megastore and Jammin were anchor tenants for Crossroads (recently sold to Pantaloon for Rs 4 billion). In 2001, the group entered the business of food & grocery retail with the launch of TruMart supermarkets in Pune. They have around 18 TruMart stores covering 1.90 lakh sq. ft. registering a turnover of Rs 37.6 mn in 2005. Piraymd Megatsores contributes more than 70 % to their retail mix with a turnover of Rs 112.8 mn. They plan to open 150 stores covering 75 mn sq ft of retail space in the next 5 years. 7. Subhiksha Subhiksha is a Chennai-based, decade old, no frills, food, grocery, pharma and telecom, discount retail chain. ICICI Venture Capital holds 24% in the equity capital of Subhiksha. It has more than 500 stores across the country covering a retail space of more than 1 million sq ft with a registered turnover of Rs 3.34 bn in 2006. It has a planned investment of Rs.300 crores to ramp up its operations to 1200 stores by 2008. New but potential BIG players 8. Bharti-Walmart Their plans include US$ 7 bn investment in creating retail network in the country including 100 hypermarkets and several hundred small stores. They have signed a 50:50 percent joint venture agreement with Walmart. Wal-Mart will do the cash & carry while Bharti will do the front-end. 9. Reliance Indias most ambitious retail plans are by reliance, with investments to the tune of Rs. 30,000 cr ($ 6.67 bn) to set up multiple formats with expected sales of Rs 90,000 crores ($20 bn) by 200910. There are already more than 300 Reliance Fresh stores and the first Reliance Mart Hypermart has opened in Ahmedabad. The next ones are slated to open at Jamnagar, followed by marts in Delhi / NCR, Hyderabad, Vijaywada, Pune and Ludhiana. 10. AV Birla Group

They have a strong presence in apparel retailing through Madura garments which is subsidiary of Aditya Birla Nuvo Ltd. They own brands like Louis Phillipe, Van Heusen, Allen Solly, Peter England, Trouser town. In other segments of retail, AV Birla Group has announced investment plans of Rs 8000 - 9000 crores in the first 3 years till 2010. The acquisition of Trinethra (food & grocery) chain in the south has moved their tally to 400 stores in the country. Their More range of 15 supermarkets are slated to open at Nashik, Pune and other tier II cities in Western India in 2007. Chillibreeze's disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author(s) and do not reflect the views of Chillibreeze as a company. Chillibreeze has a strict antiplagiarism policy. Please contact us to report any copyright issues related to this article. Out of 5 chilies, our editorial team gave this article...

About our writer: Pooja says, "I live to dream, and belief in your dreams leads to success". An MBA degree has led me to work with a consulting firm. On a personal level I am a keen sports enthusiast, especially cricket. I enjoy reading and penning down my thoughts.
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Lsit of Retail companies in India

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vikasruparelia - Member Since: Aug 2007

Subject - Lsit of Retail companies in India

Hello All, I am trying to compile a list of RETAIL ORGANISATIONS in India. I have made a small list mentioned below, incase you are aware oof more can you please add the same. Once the complete list is done i will mail the same to all for reference.

Cafe Coffee Day Barista Pantaloon Group Provogue Trent (Westside) ShoppersStop Murjani Group Escada Group Arvind Brands Life Style Group McDonalds Titan Tanishq

If you have more to add please let me know. Thanks and Warm Regards,

Vikas
vikasdubey Full Member - Member Since: Jun 2007
Subject - Re: Lsit of Retail companies in India

hi Plz add to the list1. REI Agro with brand name 6ten. 2. Express retail with brand name Big Apple

3. Tata Retail 4. Birla group is also there but brand name is not decided yet. 5. Subhiksha 6. 24*7 retail stores at petrol pumps 7. In & out etc...etc...
shilpabharadwaj - Member Since: Mar 2007
Subject - Re: Lsit of Retail companies in India

U Can add Fab mall Foodworld Bigbazaar shopper's stop

Dixita Full Member - Member Since: Jul 2007
Subject - Re: Lsit of Retail companies in India

Hypermarket Big Bazaar Giants Shoprite Star Department store Lifestyle Pantaloons Piramyds Shoppers Stop Trent Entertainment Fame Adlabs Fun Republic Inox PVR
jeyy_r Full Member - Member Since: Nov 2006
Subject - Re: Lsit of Retail companies in India

if anybody can help me with the email ids and contact details of the HR persons of these retail outlets
youandme - Member Since: Feb 2008

Subject - Re: Lsit of Retail companies in India

hi all.. just for info.. aditya birla group retail is known as More have a great day
octavious Senior Member - Member Since: Feb 2007
Subject - Re: Lsit of Retail companies in India

HELLO, RELIANCE BHARTI WALMART RPG SPINACH SUBIKSHA FOODLAND BLUEFOODS PANTALOONS(FUTURE GROUP)

THANK YOU OCTAVIOUS

rgi - Member Since: May 2008
Subject - Re: Lsit of Retail companies in India

Guys, There will be some repeats, but hopefully would serve the purpose. Aditya Birla Retail Limited Arvind Brands Ltd. Avenue Supermarts Pvt. Ltd. (DMart) Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd. Classic Fashions Damas Goldfields Jewellery Pvt. Ltd. Ebony Retail Holdings Ltd. G R Thanga Maligai Gini; Jony Globus Stores Guardian Lifecare Ltd. Heritage Foods (India) Ltd. Infiniti Retail Ltd. ITC Ltd LRBD Kalanjali Arts & Crafts Kewal Kiran Clothing Pvt. Ltd. Kirtilal Kalidas & Co. Koutons Retail India Ltd. Lakewood Malls Pvt. Ltd. (Haiko) Levi Strauss (India) Pvt. Ltd. Lifestyle International Pvt. Ltd. L N B Textiles Pvt. Ltd. Madura Garments Major Brands (India) Pvt. Ltd. Manipal Cure & Care Pvt. Ltd. McDonald's India (West & South) MnM Marketing Private Ltd. (MnM) Nallis NEXT Retail India Ltd. Odyssey India Ltd. Oswal Retail Pvt. Ltd. Pantaloon Retail (India) Ltd. Personality Ltd. (Weekender) Piramyd Retail Ltd. Planet M Provogue India Ltd. Rajmal Lakhichand Jewellers Pvt. Ltd. Raymond Ltd. Reliance Petro Marketing Pvt. Ltd. Reliance Webstore Ltd. RPG Retail Sankalp Retail Value Stores Pvt. Ltd. (mydollarstore) Shoppers Stop Subiksha Trading

Services Pvt. Ltd. TCS Textile Pvt. Ltd. (The Chennai Silks) The Bombay Dyeing & Manufacturing Co. Ltd Titan Industries Ltd. Trent Ltd. Unilever India Exports Ltd. Vishal Retail Ltd. Vivek Ltd. Wadhawan Food Retail Pvt Ltd WITCO (India) Ltd. Zodiac Clothing Co. Ltd. Regards, rg
gupta.meet - Member Since: Jun 2008
Subject - Re: Lsit of Retail companies in India

hey so many are their which unpopular... like; Hot Spot Retail AIMS Retail-Mc club Home Store Spinac D Mart Essar Telecom & list is long
ajithaa Full Member - Member Since: Jan 2008
Subject - Re: Lsit of Retail companies in India

Hi friends, GLOBUS

REGARDS, ajithaa