Retail jobs in India - Over 300 malls/ 30000 m USD investment underway

I have been a travel bug-and so have enjoyed visiting places across India on work- first as a sales professional and now as recruiter- for a couple of decades. Each time I visited a town, it was assuring to get around places punctuated with familiar landmarks. Looks like I should start feeling like a first time visitor even as I go to my old haunts.

The landscape in the cities have changed with new buildings coming up every corner. Especially if one goes by two independent surveys conducted recently- by consultancy firm Jones Lang LaSalle Meghraj , and Assocham where investments during the period September 2007 to February 2008 were tracked,where investments during the period September 2007 to February 2008 were tracked!

Summarising -it predicts :

-328 new shopping malls are expected to come up in previously unlikely places. The business strategies revolve around setting up first-time malls in small towns. For eg-several areas in Bihar and Jharkhand, such as Patliputra, Sitamarhi, Hazipur and Bettiah, and further south -Kottayam and Alleppey ( in Kerala), apart from Belgaum (Karnataka), Bilaspur (Chhattisgarh) Kolhapur and Nanded (both in Maharashtra).

-Forget US recession. While textile and garment industry are facing tough competition due to rupee appreciation and high competition in international market, industry players are betting on a booming domestic market. Malls, hyper marts and food stores will be the main drivers of the retail boom in tier II and III cities.

-With an investment rate of 36.3% driving the Indian growth story, corporate retailers across the country have announced investment plans amounting to Rs1,31,804 crore in the last six months, for expanding their network of stores by 2010 so as to cash in on the retail boom.

Does it ring bells regarding the employment opportunities being thrown up?

It is only going to get better. The initiatives by the government ( eg golden quadrilateral), private partnership ( SEZs, new airports) -are spurring entrepreneurs ( a la Air Deccan Gopinath who is now embarking on a cargo airline) and corporates ( eg ITC Choupal) to focus their energies on the Bharat which is 70% of India's population lives!

I have been personally interacting with senior professionals who are drawing up their manpower plans for the growth. While some are in the supply chain field, with initiatives like farmer extension programs for better sourcing of livestock & fresh vegetables , some others are in the business of setting up third party warehouses to help improve shelf life and improve reach. Not to mention of private equity firms that are tying up with the real estate to cater to the luxury segment of lifestyle products one didn't find hitherto in India, as MNC chains are eyeing the India consumption theme!

One can see a lot of jobs in logistics, supply chain, information technology, business intelligence, apart from specific retail experts with exposure to different formats, and specialists like merchandisers, visualisers etc.

India beckons retail professionals - with international experience!! It is globalisation at its best!