What: Facts and figures about the Indian retail market, collected and compiled by Coresight

Why it is important: With a market estimated to $1tr by 2025, and a young population, India is key for the future of retail not only in terms of opportunities for international players, but also in terms of innovation and new usages such a digitalized and young country will inevitably produce, just like what China did in the past 20 years.

Coresight estimates that the market is worth $768m in 2022 (up from $703m in 2021) and should grow up to 1tn by 2025. Growth in 2023 should focus especially on clothing, footwear, recreation and cultures, markets which were hit during the pandemic, particularly in 2021 (India felt the pain later than other countries).

The market is fueled by a young working population (the second-largest population in the world is on average 28.4 years old, and 68% of the population is in working age), evolving customers’ lifestyle (as customers will have a higher disposable income to spend on experiences, with a mobile-first approach), a rising urbanization (35% in 2021) and a growing digital ecosystem.

So far, the market remains highly fragmented (75% of the total sector)  but should organize in the near future, especially due to the expected growth of larger e-commerce players, leading to organized retail representing up to 35%. Online is expected to reach $75.1 bn in 2022 (+36.5% vs LY), thanks to a demand for convenience from a tech-savvy generation, a heavy smartphone adoption and habits of paying digitally. For Coresight, the e-commerce companies to watch are Flipkart, BigBasket, Myntra and Snapdeal. They also make a special focus on Reliance Retail, Avenue Supermarts (Dmart) and Titan Company (Tata).

The Indian retail market