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Mumbai, Sept 6 Empowering consumers with ready credit is how Mr Kishore Biyani, CEO of the Future Group, expects to build his retail business. On the last day of the India Retail Forum, Mr Biyani, elaborated on the future of retailing in the session on ‘Future Yet to Unfold’.

“The consumption boom will drive retail in India. We need to look at innovative ways of making money available to the consumer,” he said. With the intention of growing the consumer’s consumption basket, Mr Biyani recently launched Future Money, a consumer financing scheme, at his Big Bazaar stores. The Future Group also believes in giving loans to its employees to spend at its stores. “Taking the model of countries such as Brazil and Mexico, where retailers have turned financers, Biyani expects to emulate the same model in India.

“We are talking to the RBI and other institutions that can help in bringing about a change in the savings pattern of consumers,” said Mr Biyani. At the same time, he believes in being cautious about lending. “Our experience shows that some of the biggest frauds happen with the initial loan seekers. We believe that the default ratio should not be less than six per cent in this business and there should be checks and balances to manage this business,” he added.

Meanwhile, the Government is also aiding the growth of retail in the country. For instance, the Department of Posts is taking the initiative to develop 1,800 plots of land with acreage of half to two acres for retail purposes, according to Mr S. Samant, Chief General Manager, Business Development, Department of Posts. The projects will be undertaken through public-private partnerships, he said.

Mr C.K .Vaidya, Managing Director, Godrej Agrovet, stressed on the profitability of having stores at village and taluka levels, where his company operates many convenience stores and said, “Problems of land and trained personn el exist at these levels too, but if we can address them properly, a chain of stores is very much possible in these rural areas, since the customers are there.”

Commenting on the new-age rural consumers, Mr Shailendra Tyagi, Head of Marketing, international business division of ITC, said: “Today, the rural consumers are dissatisfied with spurious products especially in high-impact category like farm inputs. Thus, one doesn’t need to change the shopping behaviour of the rural consumer. Fortune is at the bottom of the pyramid but most important is that fortune must be for the bottom of the pyramid also.”

Expanding some of the HR issues, Mr Ajit Joshi, CEO, Infiniti Retail Ltd, said, “Having set a new benchmark in customer services in the retail industry, Croma always emphasises on providing training to its shop floor managers to upgrade their skill sets. Croma organises various activities such as yoga classes, voice modulation programmes and also has associations with various NGOs across the country. This helps in enhancing the overall customer experience in the store and keeps the staff motivated to do their best.”

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