Retailing is perhaps one of the oldest professions in India but recently it had caught up the corporate eye, partly because of the valuation of the industry as a US$ 270 billion mammoth and partly because the growth rate of corporate retail is a whopping 42.5%[1]. The industry is witnessing the entry of a new class of traders who boast themselves to be the ‘efficient’ middleman, with zeal to squeeze out all inefficiency in the existing supply chain and give the best they have ever got, both in terms of the price and in terms of the produce. The traders are no one else than the big corporate names like Reliance, Bharti, Godrej, Birla etc to a name a few. These corporate are now planning to be farmers themselves and the term they are using is “corporate farming”. It is to be mentioned that out of the total spending of an average Indian 40% is spent on wet grocery (fresh fruits and vegetables) but in this segment only 0.8%[2] is corporatized, that itself speaks of the fortune that is inviting these conglomerates.
The other important part of discussion is the effects on farmers and their produce. There are no second thoughts that these modern format stores are driving the consumption to new peak and that are in turn driving the increase in farm produce but we also have to look to the fact that how much are these modern format stores contributing to the global warming by their carbon emission. The question which needs to be answered here is that are these retailers actually giving rise to a new ‘green revolution’ or a revolution to ‘freeze and preserve the greenery’ on the other hand giving way to global warming.
[1] REPORT ON INDIAN RETAIL 2007 BY IMAGES RETAIL & INDIAN RETAIL FORUM
[2] REPORT ON INDIAN RETAIL 2007 BY IMAGES RETAIL & INDIAN RETAIL FORUM
