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Mumbai: As FDI in retail signals a revolution in the organized retail industry, Brand Equity on ET NOW, brings you a riveting discussion on the business implications on modern retail, Kiranas, FMCG players, farmers and consumers. The big debate focuses on all the chaos in the parliament, political upheaval and the forward outlook.
The elite panel on the show features Thomas Varghese, Chairman of National Committee on Retail CII, Bijou Kurien, President and CEO of Lifestyle - Reliance Retail, Nitin Paranjpe, MD and CEO of Hindustan Unilever, Harsh Mariwala, Chairman and MD of Marico, R. S. Sodhi, MD of Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation, Harsh Goenka, Chairman of RPG Group, B.S. Nagesh, Founder, Trust for Retailers & Retail Association of India and Manu Ghai, Global Retail Analyst.
In the first segment, Thomas Varghese shares a positive outlook stating that modern retail has grown at about 25% in the last 5 years and investing in agricultural back end, processing industries and farm practices for better yield is the key to overall sustained growth. While Bijou Kurien on the contrary felt that FDI implications would be minimal and the political fears being expressed are baseless.
In the next segment, B. S. Nagesh shares his view on how FDI in retail will impact the international retailers planning their India entry. He said it will be interesting to see how international players chart their investment and how they plan out their entry with such a large capital of $100 million.
Expressing an overall positive outlook on the impact of FDI on modern trade in India, Harsh Goenka said that the Government has taken a bold step where in the consumers will enjoy wider choices at better prices and also 12% - 15% of retail trade will be with the organized segment in the next 5 years.
In the final segment, Harsh Mariwala discusses the implications on FMCG manufacturers stating that the market leaders will have to be innovative to stay ahead of new entrants / competitors and the smaller players will be most affected by threat of private labels.
Additionally, Manu Ghai commenting on Corporate Farming, expressed that it can be the next step; however, the Government would have to address the regional disparity that exists in India and enforce a Central policy rather than a State policy.
Catch the complete episode of Brand Equity on Saturday, 3rd December at 2.30pm and Sunday, 4th December at 11am and 10.30pm. Only on ET NOW.
