Retail sector growth drops to 2% in August 2024, despite positive economic outlook
Of the different retail categories, food and grocery registered the highest growth of 7%, followed by 5% in jewellery compared to August 2023
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Retailers Association of India has pegged the retail sector's growth at 2% in August 2024 over the corresponding period in the previous year.
According to Kumar Rajagopalan, CEO of the Retailers Association of India (RAI), said, “Retail business for the month of August has not shown robust growth over last year. Many retailers have maintained that they have witnessed negative growth on for like basis. All expectations are that the festive season could bring positive growth since the situation of the economy overall is positive”.
According to the RAI retail business survey, North and South India saw sales growth at 3% each, while East and West India showed an increase of 1% each last month.
Of the different retail categories, food and grocery registered the highest growth of 7%, followed by 5% in jewellery compared to August 2023.
Separately, India's e-commerce industry may surge to $325 billion by 2030 as per Invest India report.
Online shopping makes up approximately 7 percent of the country's total retail market at present and is valued at $70 billion.
Internet penetration, low-cost internet services, and a substantial increase in rural smartphone users are some of the key reasons behind the surge in e-commerce market in the future, the report added. The report said that India will be the leader of the online shopping revolution, with an estimated 500 million shoppers by 2030.
Moreover, the quick commerce market is forecasted to experience exponential growth, reaching a market size of $5.5 billion by 2025.
