TITLE:
Retail Ecosystem in India—An Overview of the Regulatory Framework and the Emerging Paradigm
AUTHORS:
Valiaparampil Joseph Sebastian, Rakesh Gupta
KEYWORDS:
Indian Retail Sector, Small Retailers, Organized Retailers, Regulatory Envi-ronment, Foreign Direct Investment
JOURNAL NAME:
Theoretical Economics Letters,
Vol.8 No.3,
February
8,
2018
ABSTRACT: Indian retail sector has
been a strong area of interest and discussion both within and outside India for
a number of reasons. India has the highest retail density in the world
dominated by small retail outlets, which many call as “mom & pop” stores.
But the sector of late has been undergoing a major transformation in terms of
its structure and scale. Slowly and steadily, the big players have been
entering in this field and the sector is evolving into organized shape and
structure. The Indian retail sector has been categorized as the top player
among the developing country markets in terms of future growth potential. This
has created strong interest among big retail
players of the world in the Indian retail sector but at the same time has created
anxieties and fears in the minds of small Indian retailers. In this context,
the regulatory environment for this sector is evolving and has a lot of
challenges in hand in terms of how to balance the interests of both small and
large players as well as organized and un-organized players. The study is based
on an extensive survey of literature, industry reports, and field survey of
small retailers. Drawing upon the analysis of primary and secondary data, the
study highlights the issues facing the sector and comes out with some pertinent
policy recommendations.