India has, at 6 percent, the highest retail density in the world, with 12 million
small shops catering to 209 million households. Unlike in developed countries
and in many of India’s developing counterparts, the Indian retail trade is largely
unorganised and highly fragmented in nature, operating in a ‘low cost and
small size’ format – including as it does the ‘local kirana store’ as well as street
vendors – and has traditionally been an occupation carried out mainly by these
small entrepreneurs spread across the length and breadth of the country. Given
the labour-intensive nature of the Indian economy in general and the informal
economy in particular, the latter employing around 93 percent of the total labour
force of the country, more than half of which (52.5 percent) comprises self-
employed people, the retail industry is the second largest employer (agriculture
being the first) and is the source of livelihood for some 27.6 million people
who constitute 7.3 percent of the total labour force. Although Indian retail is
dominated by small unorganised entities (controlling around 96 percent of the
share in this USD 350 billion industry) that are perceived to have inadequate
financial and infrastructural capacities, it accounts for roughly 10 percent of
the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the country.