The retail industry will be one of the fastest growing sectors in the coming years and is expected to grow to USD 675 billion in 2016,Nokia India Senior Vice-President (IMEA) D Shivakumar said today. Citing a study,he said the retail industry,which was valued at Rs USD 310 billion in 2006,grew to USD 470 in 2011. "In 2016,it is expected to reach USD 675 billion at a CAGR of 7.5 per cent",he said at the Tamil Nadu Retail Summit organised by CII here. The organised sector,which accounts for three per cent in the retail industry,is expected to reach 12 per cent by 2016,he added. "Retail will be one of the emerging and fastest growing sectors in the coming years. Hence,adaptation to advance technology,improvement in power segment,retail space price and improvising on soft skills of retail executives will be the key areas for growth of the retail sector," Shivakumar said. Stating that there are about 5,380 cold storages in the country with a total capacity of 24.5 million tonnes,he said of the 24.5 million tonnes,75 per cent capacity is for potatoes,while 96 per cent for the private sector. The capacity of cold chain is 60,000 tonnes. He said mobile coupons,provision of retail application in smartphones are increasing footfalls in a retail outlet and added some sales in this segment are shifting from "offline" to "online". Google India-Head,Rajan Anandan said most retailers get 50 per cent of their business outside Tier I cities. Observing that online businesses are outpacing offline retailers,he said about 800 transactions happen per day while monthly revenue reaches Rs 3.5 crore in an online fashion retail store. Nine out of 10 retailers in the US are offline players,he said,adding Amazon.com tops the list with sale of USD 34.2 billion. Anandhan,citing a study,said there would be 90 million active online buyers by the year 2015. "There will be 300 million online users with 90 million active buyers," he said,adding India despite being considered the third largest internet populated country is not among the top 10 e-retail countries. "Currently,India's e-retail business is at 0.20 per cent of the total retail," he said. "China is expected to be the biggest online retail player in 2015," he said,adding US and China have a share of 25 per cent. "Internet is fast penetrating into Tier II and III towns in India. 48 per cent of internet users are from towns with population of less than 10 lakh. Businesses are likely to scale further as more people are shopping online. By 2015 there will be 90 million active online buyers in India," he added.
