INDIAN FOOD RETAIL SECTOR IN THE GLOBAL SCENARIO
Vijay Anand1 & Vikram Nambiar2 (The figures indicated with reference to revenues of unlisted companies are based on press information and other sources of information that are not published and therefore, may not be accurate)

GLOBAL RETAILING INDUSTRY The latter half of the 20th Century, in both Europe and North America, has seen the emergence of the supermarket as the dominant grocery retail form. The reasons why supermarkets have come to dominate food retailing are not hard to find. The search for convenience in food shopping and consumption, coupled to car ownership, led to the birth of the supermarket. As incomes rose and shoppers sought both convenience and new tastes and stimulation, supermarkets were able to expand the products offered. The invention of the bar code allowed a store to manage thousands of items and their prices and led to 'just-in-time' store replenishment and the ability to carry tens of thousands of individual items. Computer-operated depots and logistical systems integrated store replenishment with consumer demand in a single electronic system. The superstore was born. On the Global Retail Stage, little has remained the same over the last decade. One of the few similarities with today is that Wal-Mart was ranked the top retailer in the world then and it still holds that distinction. Other than Wal-Mart’s dominance, there’s little about today’s environment that looks like the mid-1990s. The global economy has changed, consumer demand has shifted, and retailers’ operating systems today are infused with far more technology than was the case six years ago. Saturated home markets, fierce competition and restrictive legislation have relentlessly pushed major food retailers into the globalization mode. Since the mid-1990s, numerous governments have opened up their economies as well, to the free