A French supermarket chain takes a bet on India

ANAND GUPTA’S small and dimly lit-grocery shop in a middle-class Delhi neighbourhood does not allow customers much of a look at its crowded shelves. It stocks a range of dry goods, but little variety: a single brand of rice, one of flour and three of shampoo. Mr Gupta has no till and does his stocktaking in pencil. His grandfather, who opened the shop in the 1940s, would notice only one change: that the daily delivery is made by lorry instead of a fleet of bicycles and bullock carts.

This is how most shopping operates in India, where “organised” outlets (supermarkets, hypermarkets and department stores) account for just 5% of the $450 billion retail market. The rest is done in tiny mom-and-pop, or kirana, shops. But that is beginning to change, as big retailers try to cash in on what AT Kearney, a consultancy, last year called the leading emerging retail market. Robust economic growth, a fast-expanding middle class and mushrooming malls all help organised retail to boom. The latest retail giant to arrive is Carrefour, which will open its first outlet in Delhi in July, with more shops scheduled for other cities this year. The French firm follows Wal-Mart, the world’s biggest retailer, which last year opened its doors in Amritsar, in northern India. …