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The second most populous country with seventh world largest GDP in 2015, India is full of opportunities. Retail is the biggest industry followed by agriculture, is not the only developing business. Indian market is an aim for numerous private equities and international cooperation. How to establish connection and collaboration in different areas of interest? Where to seek the business opportunities?
The growth of
human capital
Indian population accounts more than 1.26 million people. While fertility rates are in decline, the development of the healthcare contributes to the steady population growth. Putting the stakes onto human capital, India invests in the education of its population which does not go unnoticed by the global labour market. As it has been discussed before in our article 3 gigantic reasons to invest in HR, human resource specialists already recognise that recruitment from developing countries like India is a solution for European labour shortage. OECD has reported that India is the top country for highly educate migrants, followed by the Philippines and China. Online education plays a big role in the sector, expected to reach US$ 40 billion by 2017.
#1 in the desirable
retail destinations
India has 500 million under 25 years olds, who are driving the demand and, consequently, the supply of mobile gadgets, fashion, wellness, food and beverages, quick restaurant services, etc. Having the large middle class of 75 million households, the country is welcoming the global retail chains. India-based retailers already have aggressive expansion plans embracing innovations and investors from all over the world. Moreover, Indian rural population is one of the key focus for retail, as there are opportunities for growth having yet low penetration level. Retail market size is as large as $350 billion with 5-8% of organised retail penetration. There is 12 million mom- and pop-up stores in the country. Strong GDP growth ensures the steady increase in spending power of the population.
Reliance Retail is the largest in terms or revenue and is the biggest in the most categories it operates. Reliance Digital has thousands of stores in the country being the leader in consumer durables and electronics retail. Its mobile retail has more than 800 stores. Moreover, Reliance Retail holds the leadership on Indian cash and carry shops. As the fashion retail, Reliance trends is the largest retail in the country selling 1,50,000 garments daily. The company aims to employ 1,20,000 people by 2018. Reliance Retail is one of the examples how retail sector boosts the countries economy.
Setting the
supply chain
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has announced a start od “Make in India” campaign to promote and boost the domestic manufacturing in India. The goal of the campaign is to increase the manufacturing contribution to country’s GDP up to 25 percent, similarly like in China and Korea where manufacturing enrichment is higher than 30 percent. Samsung and Sony have reported establishing their manufacturing sites in India. According to plan, the freight transportation will increase in times which will require the reinvention of the supply chain. By some calculations, India is just two weeks further regarding logistics to the US than China. Because of the shortage of raw materials in the country, most supply base for parts and materials is imported. However, the demand for infrastructure development attracts Chinese investors.
In 2025, 18 Indian cities will become highly demand centres with high population density. According to ATKearny report, there will be four main trends for supply chain development: automation, verticalization, lean design and cooperation with third-party logistics. Every one of them will have to be sustainable and efficient. Indian supply chain management will need the best specialists to perform efficient makeover, which opens the doors for global cooperation.
