An essay which i wrote....

INDIA’S OWN SUPERMARKET

“We have changed from a world controlled by superpowers to a world controlled by supermarkets” ,says Thomas L Friedman ,the New York Times columnist and the author of the bestseller business book “the world is flat”. But how many people have realized it in India? Certainly a street shop guy has. He has transcended from his stereotyped services to an expanded approach towards his business. The street shop guy not only fetches his conventional products, but one can also get a mobile recharge, chewing gums, chocolates, stationary, an STD PCO, a one rupee packet of mineral water and what not? What does it show? Certainly it shows that the mindset of people towards business is changing. Everyone is trying to expand one’s gamut from stereotyped goods to include all kinds of products which one can get hold of and manage to sell with sufficient profit. These are the small supermarkets which one can find on every corner of every street in every town or city or village. It can be said that these are the Indian versions of the western supermarkets.

Indeed, a supermarket is a grocery store, a self service store, offering a wide variety of food and household merchandise, organized into departments. Now let’s define an Indian street corner supermarket. “It is a store, a small one, not necessarily a grocery store. It may originally be any street shop, an STD-PCO store, a general store, an internet cafe or whatever one can think of. But in such a store one can find an ‘Indian’ selling everything, from water packets to cigarettes, from mobile recharge to contraceptions.” We have seen the supermarket culture develop in India and it indeed has been adapted and accepted by all. The picture of the Indian street shop guy selling a wide spectrum of things shows that everyone has embraced the supermarket idea. But are we curtailed to selling more small items in small shops? The answer is no. Walmart may be the biggest retail player of the world operating in numerous countries but Indians have a propensity to indigenous names. A big-bazaar, reliance fresh, a pantaloons retail store are more into an Indian scheme of things. We prefer a V-mart to a Walmart.

India is ranked 5^th on the global retail development sector. Currently, supermarkets are confined to urban and sub-urban areas. But as more people are pulled out from poverty and the rural market grows we are bound to see those on the rural lands. As World Bank augurs that India would be world’s 2^nd largest economy after China by 2050, we will see supermarkets reach every corner of India. And that would require a massive improvement in supply chain management. A well managed and operated supply chain can effect reduced prices. Wal-mart has set a great example in supply chain management for other retail operators. The prices of items in a Wal-mart store are much lesser than those in other stores, due to the magnificently managed supply chain. This has been the main reason for the colossal growth of Wal-mart as a global retail player. Thus, the necessity of a well managed supply chain cannot be overstated. If a large country like India is to become the 2^nd largest economy of the world, these will be a major part of its scheme of things.

The tax reforms which have been incorporated in Indian economy from time to time are also intended to effect the growth of businesses and economy. Reforms like VAT (value added tax) have always been intended to incentivize businesses and GST (goods and services tax) which is going to replace indirect taxes is intended to remove the existing inequities or loopholes in the VAT system. The regularly upgraded taxation system of India is expected to be the incentive for the growth of businesses, economy and hence the markets, supermarkets and supply chains in India. Thus, foreign investors are thronging in to invest in the Indian retail markets. With growing consumerism, the supermarket business in India is going to be a big source of FDI. While skeptics opine that it would jeopardize Indian small retailers. Rather with the expected increasing demand, it would turn out to be a great opportunity for them to encash on the supermarket boom. Indian’s are after all known to show aptness towards indigenous goods.

Retail sector has been till date the 2^nd largest employer after agriculture for the semi skilled population and is expected to be a big job creator in the impending future. As a large fraction of our population is unemployed, a supermarket boom can just be the dues ex machina. As these get to rural areas, more people can get employed there. But that can only happen if the earning capability of our rural population is increased and their dependence on agriculture is reduced. An important step has been taken by the government in the form of rural employment policies like NREGA. But the government can only form policies and try to implement them. The problem which stymies rural development is administrative corruption. The bureaucratic setup swallows the funds allocated in the mediatory levels and stymies rural growth. This has been the problem and one of the reasons for the under development since independence, and we haven’t been able to find any effective way to eradicate this. So, for the application of these policies to some effect there should be transparency in the system of application of these policies. An official website on which everyday’s records related to wages and works are uploaded has to be launched. And a daily upgradation of that website should be facilitated. Of course, in a country like ours, it may seem farfetched. But not so if private companies like TCS and WIPRO are given contracts for doing it. This would ensure a proper and regular updating and would also provide options for . Public-private partnership is always being seen cynically in India. If government talks about it, it is seen as a cry to rescue the pathetic PSUs from the losses with which they incur. And if private companies talk about it, cynics see it as intent to swallow the public sector. Any step which promotes public-private partnership is welcome.

Big markets are the epitomes of a developed nation. The western countries in which industrialization happened and markets proliferated are the ones whose citizens have a higher standard of life than the African and most Asian countries. Supermarkets are sin qua non components of a grown market. If we will have a developed market in future throughout the country, supermarkets and well operated supply chain are indispensable. And in turn they can generate employment opportunities and thus benefit the market itself.

A supermarket offers various products in a single place. They are going to be much more in the scheme of things in the future. But will they replace the conventional markets?? May be in the western countries they can but definitely not so in India. People in India are too reluctant to change old habits. It will be too hard for someone in India to miss a tea on the shop which is in the corner of one’s street. Old habits are hard to break for us Indians. And even if we go to a supermarket for shopping but it is too hard to miss a tea around the corner, or a smoke behind the street for the smokers. Thus even if the supermarkets come and generate huge profits but a street shop around the street has its relevance and rightful place in India. No supermarket can provide the satisfaction which the Indian middle class serviceman gets out of hanging out on the nearest pawn tea shop with mates. And the street shop guy has embraced and integrated the supermarket approach and has started to keep all kinds of items in his shop. A supermarket may come and even go. But an Indian street shop or the India’s own supermarket is here to stay.