Association of retailers in the offing

On the lines of Nasscom, the governing body for the software industry, it is now the turn of the organised retailers to set up a common platform. Called Retailers Association of India, it will be their first representative body at the national level.

The association's governing board will comprise of retail players such as Pantaloon Retail, Trent, Shopper's Stop, RPG Group, Lifestyle, Subhiska, Piramyd among others.

Gibson Vedamani, the former director (operations) at Shopper's Stop and professor at Welingkar's Institute, will be heading the association. Since the new age mall retailing is largely linked with real estate, the builder fraternity will also be joining the body as associate members.

The availability of prime retail real estate and modern mall management services is expected to further boost the growth of the retail industry.

The association will lobby with the government to formulate policies for the retail industry, which is yet to be given an industry status. It has been debating whether the retail industry should be under the commerce ministry or tourism ministry as malls act as a major draw for tourists. The objective of the body is to expand organised retailing in the country.

It has been forecast that the share of modern retail shall grow from about 2 per cent of sales currently to 15-20 per cent over the next decade. In 2003, total consumer spending grew by 12 per cent over 2002. Food and beverage still constitutes major chunk of the spend at 52 per cent, followed by clothing and footwear.

The next 2-3 years shall witness at least two Indian retail businesses crossing the Rs 1,000 crore mark in sales. It is learnt that over 300 mall projects are currently underway across the country. With modern retail formats having a major presence in the metros and mini-metros, the action is shifting to second rung cities.