Fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) companies, retail firms, and producers of consumer durables are witnessing stable urban demand. However, people in the trade are waiting for clearer signs of revival closer to the festival season, starting in September.
While there was a 6 to 7 per cent increase in volume compared to last year in the first few days of the month which coincided with festivals, a large part of the demand is yet to hit the market.
With the rapid evolution of channels like quick-commerce and the emergence of ONDC, the Indian retail industry is 'cautiously optimistic' for 2025, in which new-age technologies such as AI and automation will play a crucial role, driving efficiency and personalisation.
The duo completed an Indian sweep winning the boy's and girl's event respectively of the Asian Junior Tennis Championship.
The spring/summer end-of-season sales have been advanced by a week with brands having high inventories due to weak demand in May because consumers avoided shopping in the hot month.
Infosys chairman and Aadhaar architect Nandan Nilekani will join a panel set up by the central government, along with eight other members, to advise the government on designing and accelerating adoption of Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC), aimed at curbing digital monopolies. The larger idea is to give 'free and fair' choice to consumers to buy products on an online platform, a senior government official said.
Randeep Hooda and Lin Laishram made a handsome couple at their wedding reception in Mumbai, where they invited their friends from the film industry.
In terms of retail categories, beauty, wellness and personal care saw the steepest decline at 87 per cent, followed by footwear with a dip of 86 per cent last month as against May 2019.
After the Covid-19 pandemic that derailed the economy since 2019, the Durga Puja festival in West Bengal is back with an estimated 20-30 per cent jump in festive spending. Retail sector is the key contributor to the state's Durga Puja economy which was Rs 32,377 crore in 2019, according to a British Council study conducted for the state government. Retail accounts for 85 per cent of the total puja economy and the rest is shared among pandal making, decoration, illumination, entertainment, advertisement, food & beverage and others.
The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) will soon start public consultation for a national retail trade policy, which is likely to include an insurance scheme aimed at providing financial protection against losses caused by theft, accidents or natural calamities. The policy will also spell out ways to give traders access to low-cost finance, promote digital inclusion, and create necessary infrastructure to support them, a senior government official told Business Standard. This is expected to offer relief especially to traditional traders, who are facing stiff competition from large e-commerce players.
The retail industry's business is on the brink of full recovery as it achieved 93 per cent of the pre-COVID sales in February, according to a report. Segments such as consumer durables and quick service restaurants (QSR) have shown positive growth of 15 per cent and 18 per cent respectively in February 2021, the report from the Retailers Association of India (RAI) said. "The quantum of de-growth in retail sales has reduced as most segments in retail have started to show significant improvement," it said. Categories like footwear, beauty, wellness and personal care, sports goods and food and grocery are showing steady month-on-month recovery.
A special screening of the thriller Jalsa was held for cast and crew, and their families.
The demands from retailers are fourfold: One, allow kiranas, general trade stores, supermarkets, hypermarkets, and wholesalers to operate every day of the week till 9 pm. Two, ensure uniform and regular opening of all categories of retail. Three, hassle-free movement of goods and employees, and four, lift bans on malls in states like Maharashtra.
Insiders say President Kovind has been told he will not be re-nominated, reveals R Rajagopalan.
Mihir Tanna, Associate Director, S K Patodia & Associates, answers your tax queries.
Apart from making your purchases on these platforms expensive, it will also mean sellers will have to face the brunt of reduced cash flows amid already low margins for some. Experts said the proposal, which will take effect on April 1, 2020, and will be inserted as a new section in the Income Tax Act, is expected to affect the working capital of e-commerce companies and reduce cash flows for e-sellers.
The sobering news is that retailers - including big firms like Reliance Retail - and exhibitors are contemplating issuing force majeure notices to shopping malls and real estate owners, and are in discussions with them to formulate an action plan for sharing the financial burden of the lockdown.
India's MRP and Packaged Commodities Acts are dated and not in line with the modern world's digital price mechanisms and comparisons.
While brick-and-mortar retailers have been the most vocal in their protests, e-tailers do not seem to be in a hurry.
After six years in the business, the scorecard of Bengaluru-based QwikCilver is impressive, with a 90 per cent market share.
Future Group and V-Mart have put in place systems to prevent panic buying at their neighbourhood grocery stores.
With an epic battle of billionaires for supremacy in one of the world's most prolific markets and a pandemic-propelled surge in online shopping in the background, India's nearly trillion-dollar retail market is hoping to touch 85 per cent of the pre-COVID business in the first half of the New Year. In a year when the COVID-19 carnage ripped apart the retail business, circa 2020 will best go down for the unravelling of the war between Jeff Bezos, the world's wealthiest man, and richest Indian Mukesh Ambani for pre-eminence in the booming market that is estimated to reach $1.3 trillion by 2025. It all started with Ambani's Reliance Industries agreeing in August to buy assets of the nation's second-largest retailer for Rs 24,713 crore, just a year after Bezos' Amazon purchased an indirect stake in the indebted Future Retail.
The government guidelines say online marketplaces must not influence the sale price of goods and services but experts say e-commerce majors categorise discounts under marketing expenses.
High-end brand experiments with EMIs via credit cards to push market share.
The development comes after a recent notification from the Union home ministry, which has permitted companies to resume manufacturing operations and reopening of shops in red, green and orange zones with certain riders.
The big boys of India's traditional retail have finally come together to fight the onslaught of their online counterparts.
The Palaniswami government is expected to utilise the Rangarajan Committee's recommendations before the 2021 assembly election.
Tata Group's CLiQ is the latest to join the e-commerce club, to compete with the likes of Amazon, Flipkart and Snapdeal.
For the first 90 days of 2021, from January 5 onwards, one Union minister will visit one district in Tamil Nadu every week till the assembly election.
Asking the government to tweak FDI norms in multi-brand segment, retailers said sourcing rules must be made similar to that of single brand while demanding foreign firms be allowed to put only 50 per cent of first tranche of investment in back-end infrastructure.
I keep a licensed revolver with me always in my car, there are some personal issues with someone which I don't want to disclose, said boxer Neeraj Goyat.
Retailer bodies to demand govt action against I-Day sales offers, threaten legal action for breach of FDI rules.
The RSS wants three nominees inducted: Tejaswi Surya, the young BJP MP from Bengaluru South, Vinay Sahasrabuddhe, a Rajya Sabha member, and former Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis.
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Traders were up in arms, fearing huge job loss if Walmart was to enter.
In Karunanidhi's passing the real loser is Tamil Nadu and Tamil language. So far there is no one on the horizon to fill the vacuum left behind by him, says R Rajagopalan.
Modi, Shah and Nadda have created a strategy to boost the BJP and the government's image.
Rajiv Gauba says there is a gap in the number of passengers who should have been monitored and the actual number which may seriously jeopardise efforts to contain the spread of coronavirus.
With Parliament's winter session is to begin on November 18, the Union home and law ministries want to complete the process of formation of the board of trustees in time, reports R Rajagopalan.
Of the 73 names, 41 have been approved by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet for secretary-level posts, while 32 names have been cleared for holding additional secretary or equivalent-level posts, reports R Rajagopalan.
With 200 MPs out of 785 above the age of 65, there is a serious shadow of COVID-19 looming over the monsoon session Of Parliament.
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