Column: Going wild in the aisles for supermarkets
(DT 18/04/2006) New Delhi - An excellent special report in this week’s Economist on the future of the emerging Indian retail sector. Sounds dull but it goes to the heart of where India is heading right now.
India really is a ‘nation of shopkeepers’ – 96 per cent of all things sold in India are sold in bazaars and small, family-owned shops staffed by unpaid family members. However the big boys – Walmart, Tesco etc – are fighting hard to roll back some old, Commie-era rules long since past their economic sell-by date that currently stop them from investing in Indian retail.
These giants are hungry for a super-size slice of middle-India’s newfound disposable income. And apparently they aren’t to be put off by the hopeless roads, the absurd over-regulation of business, internecine taxation system and the near-impossibility of buying land legally in the big cities.
But does India want ‘big retail’? Predictably the Left (who also happen to prop up India’s Congress-led coalition government) think not, but my guess is that the punters may well say different.
Recently our residential colony in South Delhi got a ‘supermarket’ called ‘Daily Needs’. By UK standards this establishment hardly rates above a ‘corner shop’ – a bit like a branch British branch of Co-Op circa 1976 (it only has three aisles of about 20ft each) but compared to anything else around, it’s a retail paradise: air-conditioning, little trolleys to push and imported chocolate bars from Saudi Arabia that aren’t full of the anti-melting agents which makes all Indian chocolate taste like tarmac.
Like a lot of middle-class Brits, I was an inveterate supermarket snob before I came to India. I would always try to use a proper butcher, baker etc when at all possible – not least because ersatz supermarket butchers and bakers were selling the same rubbish (flabby, water-filled bacon, over-risen tasteless bread, etc.) as the ready-packed counter. It was just that some bloke had to unpack it, weigh it and re-pack to give the illusion of ‘freshness’. Anyway, all is forgiven.
The problem with shopping in India is that it takes so long – which is why anyone with money employs a housekeeper to do it for them. Otherwise you spend half your life trumping from stall to stall haggling in the bazaar - which is great on a weekend (and for Hindi practice) but is impracticable when you need something quick for supper on a busy day.
With the arrival of ‘Daily Needs’ – like some shiny UFO that just landed from Mars - I now realise how exciting supermarkets must have been when they first arrived in Britain sometime after 1945. How convenient and shiny they must have appeared to the post-War housewife (my mother might correct me here) – such a far cry from their current role as the epitome of the greedy, over-bearing, homogenising force that sums up all that is dreary and soulless about life in 21st century Europe.
But for India those days of over-sated ennui are years away. From a few casual conversations, I reckon Indians will be going ‘wild in the aisles’ when the supermarkets finally arrive here in force – as, in this global world, they surely must. The Lefties go hang – this is FUN!
This enthusiasm also appears to extend to those portions of society who could never, in their wildest dreams, afford to use one. Or like a lot of Indians, will be too canny to pay for all the air-conditioning, convenience and anti-septic packaging. For one, the ciggy-wallah who used to sell me my illicit ‘single’ fags from his stall outside “Daily Needs” thinks the new arrival is “bahut achcha” (“excellent”) – not least because it has doubled his customer base overnight. Just don’t come blubbing to me in 2056 when the Taj Mahal gets demolished to make way for a car park expansion plan for the local Tesco.
By Peter Foster, the Daily Telegraph's South Asia correspondent
India really is a ‘nation of shopkeepers’ – 96 per cent of all things sold in India are sold in bazaars and small, family-owned shops staffed by unpaid family members. However the big boys – Walmart, Tesco etc – are fighting hard to roll back some old, Commie-era rules long since past their economic sell-by date that currently stop them from investing in Indian retail.
These giants are hungry for a super-size slice of middle-India’s newfound disposable income. And apparently they aren’t to be put off by the hopeless roads, the absurd over-regulation of business, internecine taxation system and the near-impossibility of buying land legally in the big cities.
But does India want ‘big retail’? Predictably the Left (who also happen to prop up India’s Congress-led coalition government) think not, but my guess is that the punters may well say different.
Recently our residential colony in South Delhi got a ‘supermarket’ called ‘Daily Needs’. By UK standards this establishment hardly rates above a ‘corner shop’ – a bit like a branch British branch of Co-Op circa 1976 (it only has three aisles of about 20ft each) but compared to anything else around, it’s a retail paradise: air-conditioning, little trolleys to push and imported chocolate bars from Saudi Arabia that aren’t full of the anti-melting agents which makes all Indian chocolate taste like tarmac.
Like a lot of middle-class Brits, I was an inveterate supermarket snob before I came to India. I would always try to use a proper butcher, baker etc when at all possible – not least because ersatz supermarket butchers and bakers were selling the same rubbish (flabby, water-filled bacon, over-risen tasteless bread, etc.) as the ready-packed counter. It was just that some bloke had to unpack it, weigh it and re-pack to give the illusion of ‘freshness’. Anyway, all is forgiven.
The problem with shopping in India is that it takes so long – which is why anyone with money employs a housekeeper to do it for them. Otherwise you spend half your life trumping from stall to stall haggling in the bazaar - which is great on a weekend (and for Hindi practice) but is impracticable when you need something quick for supper on a busy day.
With the arrival of ‘Daily Needs’ – like some shiny UFO that just landed from Mars - I now realise how exciting supermarkets must have been when they first arrived in Britain sometime after 1945. How convenient and shiny they must have appeared to the post-War housewife (my mother might correct me here) – such a far cry from their current role as the epitome of the greedy, over-bearing, homogenising force that sums up all that is dreary and soulless about life in 21st century Europe.
But for India those days of over-sated ennui are years away. From a few casual conversations, I reckon Indians will be going ‘wild in the aisles’ when the supermarkets finally arrive here in force – as, in this global world, they surely must. The Lefties go hang – this is FUN!
This enthusiasm also appears to extend to those portions of society who could never, in their wildest dreams, afford to use one. Or like a lot of Indians, will be too canny to pay for all the air-conditioning, convenience and anti-septic packaging. For one, the ciggy-wallah who used to sell me my illicit ‘single’ fags from his stall outside “Daily Needs” thinks the new arrival is “bahut achcha” (“excellent”) – not least because it has doubled his customer base overnight. Just don’t come blubbing to me in 2056 when the Taj Mahal gets demolished to make way for a car park expansion plan for the local Tesco.
By Peter Foster, the Daily Telegraph's South Asia correspondent
posted by InCar Group Press Room at 11:47
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home