With 51 per cent foreign direct investment in multi-brand retail on the anvil, experts say this would lead to a surge in individuals looking for retail-based courses.
Human resource consultants are also of the view that there would be an increased job opportunities in the retail sector. E Balaji, MD & CEO, Randstad India, is of the view that nearly 40,000 to 50,000 jobs would soon be created in India. This would place additional thrust on institutes offering such courses, he said.
Institutes offer courses ranging from retail management, supply chain management, visual merchandising and apparel retail management. The course fee ranges from Rs 30,000 for a distance education course to Rs 4 lakh for an MBA in supply chain management. Most of these courses are accredited by Indira Gandhi National Open University and are offered both at the undergraduate and post-graduate levels.
Welingkar Institute of Management Development & Research, Retail Association of India, Indian Retail School, the Synthetic & Art Silk Mills’ Research Association, NIIT Imperia and Birla Institute of Management Technology, etc are some institutes offering these courses. Placements are offered in big retail houses.
Companies are also not lagging behind in trying to produce retail talent in the country. The Future Group, for instance, has the Future Innoversity, wherein it offers programmes like BBA in retail services, courses in retail management and the supply chain.
Experts, however, offer a word of caution to retail course aspirants. The course duration, fee structure and placement records of the institutes need to be checked before opting for an institute.
Kumar Rajagopalan, CEO of RAI said, “There are adequate retail courses available in India. However, they would have to be tweaked and have newer versions in the coming time. They will have to be sharper in their course curriculum to meet the industry needs, because there are new retailers coming in with solid years of experience.”
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Rajagopalan added that the situation in the industry was such that retailers here don’t get ready-made talent who understand retail. He explained that though courses like visual merchandising, store operations and supply chain will be attractive, these would be appropriate only for students who understood the retail industry.
“These courses are not for people who don’t understand retail. Further, it cannot be taught by professors who have done management education before. In-depth understanding of retail is needed. The major worry now is, since the faculty doesn’t have an expertise, students will have no practical understanding of retail as a business when they come out of these courses,” he said.
Industry experts further added that though it is an exciting time for students interested in retail, they needed to be careful about the courses they choose, as this would solely determine their future career.