Future retailers to be tested

In the first-of-its-kind initiative, the Retailers' Association of India (RAI) is organising the country's first-ever entrance exam for an 18-month Post-graduate Programme in Retail Management (PGPRM).

The Common Admission Retail Test (CART), to be conducted later this month, will see over 25,000 aspirants compete for the 1,500 seats in 15 business schools all over the country.

These include the Asian School of Business Management, Hyderabad, NSHM Centre of Management & Development Studies, Kolkata and Durgapur, and IILM Institute of Retail Studies, Gurgaon, among others.

"We are getting good response from students and we hope the number of candidates will go well beyond 25,000," RAI Chief Executive Officer Gibson G Vedamani said.

Apart from the academic component, the programme will have strong ties with the retail industry. This is the first move to consolidate retail management education in the country, though business schools like the Birla Institute of Management Technology, Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies and Mudra Institute of Communication already have a retail course.

The Indian Institute of Management, Indore, which is drafting the course structure for RAI, too, is launching a retail management course later this month.

"Modern retailing in India is witnessing a transformation with the emergence of department stores, supermarkets, hypermarkets, specialty stores and malls. With the phenomenal growth in the organised retail sector, the demand for quality human resources is also rapidly increasing. The availability of suitable talent to aid this growth has been a challenge that organised retail players are grappling with," Vedamani said.

The organised retail market in India, from its current market share of over 4 per cent, is expected to grow to nearly 25-30 per cent in the next decade, according to a report of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Ficci) and Ernst & Young.

The academia is seeing it as a noble move that would go a long way in addressing the issue of skill gap in the industry.

"Trained professionals in retail will be quite sought after in the future. RAI being an industry body realises the importance of skills required in this field. At this point, when the retail sector is facing huge skill shortage, knowledge transfer from the industry is most needed and the programme seems to be aiming at just that," said Arindam Lahiri, director (academics), Career Launcher, a leading management test preparing institute in the country.

Lahiri added that a trend of sector-specific management courses had emerged. "We now have a Masters in Business Administration (MBA) in insurance, banking and other sectors as well. Retail is next," he added.

On whether a degree in retain management will limit a professional's career growth, Vedamani said: "The retail sector has tremendous potential in terms of diversity "" it covers retail operation management, visual merchandising, retail technology, supply chain management, and store planning and design among others. The programme aims to provide students with a high level of knowledge and an understanding of the concepts and processes involved in retailing."

According to him, the course will also equip them with operational and analytical skills necessary for a professional career in the sector.