Retail market size in India 2011-2026

The retail market size in India was expected to amount to 1.7 trillion U.S. dollars by 2026, up from 883 billion dollars in 2020. While an overall increase was noted up to 2019, 2020 marked a decrease due to the coronavirus pandemic. Nevertheless, the market is estimated to recover in 2021.

 The Indian retail landscape

Despite the pandemic, India was among the few countries, showing growth in retail sales in 2020. Characterized by its unorganized retail primarily via kirana stores, the country underwent a process of change in retail forms, which is yet to pace down. The emergence of larger retail spaces such as malls and supermarkets, along with growth of online commerce drove change in the subcontinent’s retail landscape. Nevertheless, kirana stores continued to dominate Indian retail, adopting digitalization and collaboration with larger players in this sector as well.

 The dominance of grocery retail

  The retail of groceries contributed as much as 65 percent to India’s retail. However, only a small share of that was sold through online or modern retailers. The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic in 2020, gave online retail a new push to e-grocers. As products were sometimes not available at physical stores, online grocers such as BigBasket managed to fill that gap successfully.