How Retail Sector is Increasing Job Opportunity in India

According to a recent study ,  India has more than 14 million retail outlets. A decade ago, most of the store would essentially be family-run outlets, with a fairly low capability of growing either physically or financially. However, with the allowance of up to a whopping 100% FDI in single brand retail and 51% in multi-brand retail, the huge influx of large-scale foreign players is now only a matter of time. In fact, a major retailer, Walmart(India) has already opened up 20 Best-Price Modern Retail Stores across the country, and is slated to come up with many more.

With the entry of major foreign players in the retail sector at such humongous levels, the organised retail market of the nation has consequently become more competitive and is now open to implementing fairly new business models in order to improve pricing and enforce efficient operations. While steps like these will have a positive impact on the productivity of the retail segment, it will also indirectly boost the employment opportunities within the country. As a matter of fact, the current FDI in retail is estimated to create over 4 million jobs in the country. Moreover, the indirect jobs created by the same, will go over 6 million making it the largest sector in the nation, in terms of organised employment. This will also include contractual employment within a span of 10 years.

Furthermore, since a large majority of the potential consumers of the Indian retail segment belong to the remote rural areas, the better percentage of foreign investors and looking forward to tap these markets. The simple reason being, while these markets constitute 70% of the consumer population, they account for as low as 40% of the total consumption in the nation. As is evident, it is only through this bridging of gap between the needs of the rural sections of the country and their overall consumption, that an umpteen number of job opportunities can be and will be created.

Needless to point out that the consumer base in India, both in the urban as well as the rural regions, is exponentially increasing, pertaining to the gradually increasing buying capacity and change in purchasing patterns. This will eventually give way to the need of a larger work force with improved skill sets, clearly paving a path for the employments of a large chunk of educated and well-trained youth which is still on the lookout for better employment opportunities!

Hence it is safe to say that all is not lost, and today hope is not as far as the horizon!