Deep Dive: International Grocery Retailers in India, Where 1.3 Billion Consumers are Shopping for Dinner

Executive Summary

This report is the second in a brief series that looks at global retailers’ operations in India. It focuses on international grocery retailers’ and wholesalers’ entries into the country and considers their domestic counterparts.

• We estimate that Indian consumers spent over $400 billion on food, beverages and tobacco in the year ended March 2017.
• In the 2014 fiscal year (latest confirmed), Indians allotted around 33% of their total consumer expenditure to food, beverages and tobacco.
• The Indian government allowed foreign direct investment (FDI) in the wholesale of grocery products beginning in 1997, which paved the way for Metro Group and Walmart to open wholesale stores in India.
• From 2012 onward, the government allowed FDI of up to 51% in multibrand retail, enabling retailers such as Tesco to operate in the country through joint ventures.
• In this report, we also share images and observations from our on-the-ground research at various international and domestic grocery wholesale and retail stores in Bangalore.