Retail Sector in Kashmir


Today I`m going to talk about a new career and a new opportunity, a career for those who want a job, a growth oriented one and an opportunity for those who want to give jobs and make maximum profit and success out of it. Today we will talk about Retail sector; the opportunities and challenges that lie within this sector, especially in context with our state vis-a-vis with Indian Markets.

The retailing Industry can be divided into two major categories or sub-sectors, organized and un-organized. Trading activities undertaken by licensed retailers, that is, those who are registered for sales tax, income tax, etc come under the organized Sector. These include the corporate-backed hypermarkets and retail chains, and also the privately owned large retail businesses. On the other hand, the traditional formats of low-cost retailing, for example, the local kirana shops, owner manned general stores, paan/beedi shops, convenience stores, hand cart and pavement vendors, etc. form the unorganized sector. Now, as far our State is concerned unorganized sector has almost 95% market share, which means almost no big player of retail industry has set its feet in the valley.

Now what does it signify for a Kashmiri young entrepreneur or a student who wants to take a leap forward in this sector. To me it signifies an opportunity, a golden opportunity. An entrepreneur can think in terms of starting his own brand new retail chain. Because there is almost no competition, he can easily survive and grow. Take example of Vijaya Stores, started with few shops todays it symbolises a respected name in Indian Retail Industry. Now that sooner or later India will allow the FDI in Retail sector it again may prove beneficial to already existing Retail chains. Think in terms of joint ventures and partnerships with the big retail giants. They will provide you expertise and stock and if your roots are deep enough you can provide them customers.  The biggest challenge in the whole scenario will be to build a brand image. Hatric has done wonders infood industry; similarly local businessmen need to think in terms of retail chains rather than stores or local shops.

Now for those who want to work in this sector, opportunities are limitless. In Kashmir also once the players like Bharti-Wallmart, Reliance, Big-Bazar, Pantaloons, Provouge and Tata`s enter the state it will be a different story.  Bharti-Wallmart has already started its operations in Jammu, V-Mart is there in the city and many more are ecpected to open stores this year. Now if you are thinking to work outside the state then Indian markets need you, in fact they are already searching for you out there.

Retailing sector in India, though a late entrant, is emerging as a major industry and is also poised to bring another boom in job market. To cater to the manpower needs of the industry various retail management courses are being launched by several business schools in India. As the sector is booming in India, a career in retail sector promises good wages and growth potential for the ambitious youngsters. Retail management is associated with retailing business of departmentalstores and shopping malls. Jobs in the retail sector can bring handsome remuneration and good opportunity to move up the career ladder fast. The retail sector in India is dominated by the companies like Reliance India, RPG Group, Westside, Titan, Pantaloons, Raymonds, Food World, Barista, Café Coffee Day, Bata, Trent, Crossword etc. They offer large employment opportunities forthe qualified retail management professionals. The multinational companies such as Pizza Hut, Adidas, Nike, Dominos, Kodak, Benetton, Sony, Sharp and Levis are also recruiting the skilled professionals making a career in retail sector lucrative.

With rapidly expanding departmental stores and huge shopping malls, plenty of job opportunities are opening all over India. An estimated growth rate in retail sector in India has been about 30-40% with establishment of more than 200 shopping malls. It is estimated that the retail sector will create over 13 million jobs throughout the country by end of 2012. More than 60% of these jobs will be available in the rural areas. It is also auspicious to hear that about 60 per cent of these job vacancies will be in the rural India. The trend means that states like J&K are likely to be the new markets for the big retail giants and will provide a huge opportunity to the local youth. The latest visit of Mr Ambani seems to be a right move to take the retail market in Kashmir forward.
Previous PostOlder Post Home

0 comments:

Post a Comment