Retail's Tug of War

India needs smart policies to help large ecommerce platforms and small local retail not just coexist but thrive together

- LAVEESH BHANDARI

Retail is changing in character, and India is undoubtedly at the forefront of this development globally. It is quite evident that consumers in India have taken to ecommerce in a big way. My home, for instance, has shifted almost completely to ordering online — so much so that even the maid is doing so. And if stories are to be believed, tier-III and tier-IV cities, as well as rural India, are also seeing rapid growth in online ecommerce. No doubt, the Unified Payments Interface (UPI), Aadhaar and other components of India's digital public infrastructure have helped drive this growth. Easy access to good quality digital infrastructure has enabled startups and small and medium enterprises (SMEs) across India to jump on this bandwagon and build technical capacity.

To me, what is most important is that a large range of products is now easily available for the mass market. Ragi biscuits, ghee made traditionally, palm jaggery, semal pillows, khus mats for the cooler, and scores of other niche products that would have been impossible to obtain across India can now be standard purchases. Our consumption behaviour is consequently changing rapidly, with far more variety than was the case only a few years back. And as the consumption variety increases, so are the opportunities for the scores of small entrepreneurs, collectives and even non-governmental organisations (NGOs) who supply these goods.