Ease of Doing Business for MSMEs: Even as Indian retailers including micro, small and medium enterprises have registered a 28 per cent sales growth in March 2022 from the year-ago period, the market continues to be cautiously optimistic, Kumar Rajagopalan, Chief Executive Officer of the apex retail trade body Retailers Association of India (RAI) told TheSpuzz Online. “The growth should have been near 30 per cent from pre-pandemic level instead of from last year. There are multiple issues around it such as rising fuel prices, impact of the Russia-Ukraine war on India and the world, and overall caution around inflation. It is not as simple as the pre-Covid world, the virus is still there,” Rajagopalan said as growth from the pre-Covid level (March 2019) stood at only 12 per cent in March 2022.
The findings were part of the monthly survey conducted by the retail trade body Retailers Association of India (RAI). The growth in February 2022 was 10 per cent when compared to the sales level in February 2021. The increase in pan-India retail sales, nonetheless, indicated the continuous recovery in consumer confidence amid the decline in Covid cases and withdrawal of most of the related restrictions across the country.
According to the data released by the Ministry of Statistics on Tuesday, India’s retail inflation, which is measured by the Consumer Price Index (CPI), increased to 6.95 per cent in March from 6.07 per cent in February. This was the third consecutive month for retail inflation to be above the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) upper limit of 6 per cent. The government RBI’s monetary policy committee has been asked to limit retail inflation between 2 and 6 per cent.
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Meanwhile, the highest year-on-year retail sales growth of 45 per cent was registered in the consumer durables and electronics segment followed by food & grocery and furniture at 28 per cent each, according to the survey. Beauty, wellness and personal care saw the lowest growth of 14 per cent while jewellery grew by 22 per cent. “International customers make a big difference to the beauty and wellness segment. Since international flights were suspended (till last month since March 2020), it had an impact on the segment’s growth,” added Rajagopalan.
“Many spas and wellness centers depend primarily on foreign customers and hence, they will have to wait and watch for their next phase of growth as well as work on a more regulated pricing structure. However, as domestic demand has increased, it is a positive development for the industry. We now expect growth rates to accelerate to around 18 per cent unless there are any unforeseen events ahead,” Rekha Chaudhari, Managing Director at salon and spa brand Oneline Wellness told TheSpuzz Online.
Region-wise, retail sales in West India showed a YoY growth of 37 per cent vis-a-vis 28 per cent in North, 26 per cent in East India, and 21 per cent in South.