Despite the onslaught from big retail chains, small kirana shops could get a lifeline from the Indian Institute of Packaging.
Reliance Jio and Facebook will look to use WhatsApp for delivering goods from local neighbourhood kirana stores to consumers before expanding collaboration in education and healthcare sector, billionaire Mukesh Ambani said soon after announcing the mega Rs 43,574 -crore deal. "All of us at Reliance and Jio are delighted to welcome Facebook Inc," he said in a short video message posted on the group's social media handles.
A dipstick survey of a bunch of small shops in Mumbai shows that the growth in their sales this season has been much less: under 15 per cent compared to 30 per cent in the previous years. "The malls have taken away our customers. They have a larger a variety of products which they are able to push through a plethora of schemes and very visible display," said Rajesh Shah, the owner of a kirana store in Andheri.
The move is expected to give high retail exposure to its products in innumerable kirana stores in the country, without having to spend much on advertising and marketing expenses apart from generating business volumes. When contacted, Reliance Retail spokesperson said: "As a policy, we do not comment on speculation." In a recent reshuffle at the company, Reliance Fresh head Gunender Kapur was made head of private labels business in the company.
Neighbourhood stores have the ability to adapt to changes.
After making it available at petrol pumps, the convenient 5-kg cooking gas (LPG) cylinder will now be available at kirana stores and supermarkets in select cities.
There is obvious competition at the front-end, but cash-and-carry will benefit the kirana as well, apart from the impact on supply chain and agriculture.
Godrej Consumer Products Ltd is trying to make sure it does not overload shops with stocks. And Marico is teaching store owners to use computers.
Kirana stores, equivalent of 'mom-and-pop' stores in the US, seem confident of holding their own against any foreign investment onslaught in retail.
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During his last visit to India, Khosla had said the focus of Khosla Labs would be to fund innovations around Aadhaar.
With digital adoption fast gaining currency, India is likely to see retail digital payments double to $7 trillion by 2030 from current levels, a study by Kearney and Amazon Pay said. In the report 'How Urban India Pays', Kearney-Amazon Pay said strong adoption of digital payments in online purchases has potentially led to a permanent shift in consumer behaviours, fuelling offline adoption as well.
"Now is the right time to enter and establish operations in India's booming retail sector. Domestic and global retailers who have already entered the Indian market are learning about consumer wants, preferences and needs," the PwC said in its report.
Some analysts believe convenience stores could be challenged by digital grocery in the future.
'A mule operates someone else's account to transfer illegal money.'
Atre, a torch-bearer of the Kirana Gharana of Hindustani classical music, had been honoured with all three Padma awards by the Indian government.
'It was the early days of my 5th standard school vacation, and my mother asked me, 'Robotics classes or swimming classes for the weekends?' I chose robotics classes because technology fascinated me.'
Demand for fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) fell in April owing to lower stocking by kiranas, according to the data from Bizom. Kiranas stocked lower quantities in April as they resorted to heavy stocking in March. Sales in value terms were down 8.4 per cent in the month as against the same period last year while on a month-on-month basis, they declined 17 per cent.
The bench has divided the hearing on Kejriwal's petition against his arrest into two parts. His main petition challenges his arrest by the ED and seeks it to be declared as illegal, while the second aspect pertains to grant of interim bail keeping in mind the ongoing Lok Sabha polls. The court has reserved the order on the issue of grant of interim bail.
Reliance Industries chairman and MD Mukesh Ambani on Tuesday announced an additional Rs 20,000-crore investment for West Bengal over the next three years. Ambani said the fresh investment will be in the areas of digital life solutions, retail and bio-energy.
'Money was pouring in after Movers & Shakers. At the turn of the millennium, I was voted one of the top 10 Mumbaikars. People joked that even when they switched off their TV sets, I was there! I would ask God if he was compensating me for the loss of Ayush, the greatest tragedy of my life.'
In India, fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) majors continue to hold sway, with incumbent brands cornering 65 per cent of the market share, shows a Bain & Company report. While identifying the continued preference of Indians for incumbent brands, the report says that the dominance of general trade in the country has allowed national brands to maintain their supremacy. The low penetration of e-commerce in the country has also helped large brands.
Fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) sales in rural areas witnessed a sequential recovery in the latter half of December, according to data by retail intelligence firm Bizom. Also, demand witnessed in the previous month compared to November was higher from tier-3 cities than mega cities. Overall demand from rural areas declined 0.2 per cent on a month-on-month basis in December while it was down 17 per cent in November, according to Bizom's data.
With the Congress in power in the state and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) snapping at its heels, the BRS is now fighting an existential battle.
Foreign retail chains, reluctantly allowed limited entry, have begun to make their initial moves and, like Ikea, intend to spend big money -- sometimes in the billions of dollars.
Prabha Atre, the woman who could have been lawyer, scientist or doctor but became a globally renowned Hindustani classical vocalist instead, died in her Pune home on Saturday hours before she was to leave for a concert in Mumbai. She was 92.
Demand for fast-moving consumer goods (FMCGs) went up last month across India, as kirana stores stocked up their shelves in anticipation of a sizzling summer, according to data by retail intelligence firm Bizom. There was a spike in beverages sales across the country despite inflation inching up in February after moderating downward previously, Bizom noted.
While Jio MF will undoubtedly grow in size, it will have to cross multiple hurdles even to emerge as the market leader, observes Debashis Basu.
Jiomart B2B is the latest among organised supply-chain companies to bite the bullet, shutting down its warehouses, and asking its employees to leave. Why are companies finding it difficult to sustain the supply-chain business? Experts point out that gross margins in supplying fast-moving consumer goods (FMCGs) are very low.
Reliance Industries Ltd will acquire German firm Metro AG's wholesale operations in India for Rs 2,850 crore as the conglomerate run by billionaire Mukesh Ambani seeks to strengthen its dominant position in India's mammoth retail sector. "Reliance Retail Ventures Limited (RRVL), a subsidiary of Reliance Industries Ltd, signed definitive agreements to acquire a 100 per cent equity stake in Metro Cash & Carry India for a total cash consideration of Rs 2,850 crore, subject to closing adjustments," said a joint statement. Through this acquisition, Reliance Retail will get access to a network of Metro India stores located in prime locations across key cities, along with a large base of registered kiranas and other institutional customers, and a strong supplier network.
Reliance Industries Ltd will invest Rs 75,000 crore in rolling out 5G mobile telephony services, expanding retail network and setting up renewable energy capacity in Uttar Pradesh in the next four years, its chairman Mukesh Ambani said on Friday. Ambani also announced foray of the oil-to-telecom conglomerate into bio-energy business, converting agriculture waste into gas which can be used as fuel in industries, run automobiles or light kitchen stoves. Speaking at the Uttar Pradesh Global Investors Summit 2023 here, Ambani said his group will set up 10 GigaWatts of renewable energy capacity and roll out 5G services across the state in the next 10 months.
Flipkart, the e-commerce company owned by Walmart, is intensifying its efforts to achieve profitability as it is eyeing a valuation of approximately $60 billion at the time of its initial public offering (IPO), now planned in 2025-2026, instead of this year, according to people familiar with the matter. The firm might consider listing in the US or any other geography, including India. The company, which counts the likes of Amazon and Reliance's JioMart among its competitors in India's burgeoning e-commerce market, had also contemplated launching an IPO in 2022-2023.
'The focus needs to shift towards the ability to collect payments, particularly in tier-3 to tier-4 areas where acceptance is still lacking.'
Reliance Industries' (RIL's) retail arm, Reliance Retail, is now valued at nearly twice the amount of its decades-old and lucrative oil-to-chemical (O2C) division. Bernstein's latest report on the conglomerate projects a valuation of $112 billion for its retail business, dwarfing the $57 billion valuation of its O2C division. In addition, the research firm valued Jio Platforms, the company's telecom arm, at $77 billion and the renewable energy business at $17 billion.
'Its people are either victims of corruption or witnesses to it.'
It should have been much easier to find this farsan maker's premises given the number of two-wheelers that stream up to this address the day before Ganesh Chaturthi to collect armfuls of bags of laddus, chuda and other kind of chatpata namkeen stuff.
Bulk of the medicine sales in the $22-24 billion domestic pharma market happens through offline retail chemists. With the entry of online pharmacies, this space has started to witness a shake-up. Sample this: Dawaa Dost, a Rajasthan based digital health start-up, generates medicine orders from 'kirana' stores and women self-help groups (SHGs) that operate in villages, and then service these orders through its affiliated network of pharmacies. Biddano, another health-tech start-up, has a platform that acts as an aggregator for neighbourhood chemist shops.
Howrah resident Helaram Mallik travelled 235km to Balasore to recover his son alive from a makeshift morgue where he was kept with the bodies of those killed in the triple train accident.
Feeble demand in rural areas of the country has affected sales of fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) in September as compared to August, which saw heavy stocking ahead of the festival season, according to the data of Bizom, a retail intelligence platform. Sales in rural India fell 14.3 per cent while urban sales growth stood at 1.1 per cent in September as compared to the previous month. Overall FMCG sales fell by 9.6 per cent in September as compared to August.
'When you do some job for a few hours, you are hardly earning enough to survive.'
The acquisition of Walmart India adds a strong talent pool with deep expertise in the wholesale business that will strengthen Flipkart's position to address the needs of kiranas and MSMEs uniquely.
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