december 01, 2006

legend has it that on june 26, 1284, the pied piper lured 130
children of hamelin away.
centuries later, mukesh ambani's reliance industries (ril), at
its annual general meeting, announced a similar plan to lure
india's children away. he said ril would invest rs 25,000
crore (rs 250 billion) to open 5,000 retail outlets in 1,500
towns and cities, creating over a million jobs.
according to icici bank estimates, 3 million direct jobs
would come up in organised retail by 2011, with ril's
venture accounting for a third of these. the bank also says
that the industry turnover would grow from the present
figure of rs 27,000 crore (rs 270 billion) to 90,000 crore (rs
900 billion) by 2010 and rs 150,000 crore (1,500 billion) by
2015. salaries are likely to rise at 30 per cent a year and
jobs in retail would be there for the taking. just this time,
it's no fairy tale.
ambani's grand declaration on a drizzly monday sparked
widespread speculation on dalal street and the ril scrip fell
to rs 981.20 from the previous day's close of rs 1,006.80.
tarun sisodia, head of equity and research at anand rathi
securities, recalls: "although mukesh has a legacy of
executing scale, the typically long gestation retail requires
was cause for worry and skepticism crept in." but that's
behind us now. the top-tier is in place and reliance retail is
hungry.
run the numbers: organised retail in india has untapped
potential and even after ril's wal-mart-like plans, there is
room for more. in march 2006, kishore biyani's pantaloon,
the largest retail chain in the country, renamed itself the
future group, a moniker that leaves behind its origins as a
trouser manufacturer and focuses instead on progressive
expansion.
here's a quick take from the company's hr head sanjay jog:
"as we grow, we are thinking more in terms of inclusion
than exclusion. local people are very important in our
scheme of things."
retail is a localised phenomenon, and for arvind singhal,
chairman, technopak, "it's a sure-shot way to prevent
migration from small towns to big cities". jog jogs the
numbers: "there are about 16,000 employees in the future
group now, and by june 2007, there would be 40,000, and
by 2010, 130,000."
purvi sheth, vice-president, shilputsi consultants, believes
there's a positive outlook to the sector as each retailer is
busy making its own training and organisational template.
she contends that there's no single structure of hierarchy as
each player is experimenting with a number of formats.
an icici bank study says that retail (organised and
unorganised) constitutes 10 per cent of india's gdp and
employs 8 per cent of its workforce. that makes it the
second largest employer after food and beverages (65 per
cent). even at three per cent of the overall retail pie,
organised retail is gaining the numbers at a smart clip.
"we need 8 million people in organised retail by 2011, of
which about 500,000 would be working in the 300-400
malls that would be there by then," says ashish mahajan,
head (retail solutions group), indian retail school.
a large working population with a median age of 24 years,
nuclear families in urban areas, along with an increasing
working woman population and emerging opportunities in
the services sector, are going to be the key growth drivers
of organised retail in india.
career carrier: as of now, salaries in this sector are
growing by 30 per cent year-on-year, and it is rumoured
that companies have even upped salaries by 60-70 per cent
to retain talent.
take the case of joshua d'mello, who worked in a delhi-
based apparel chain and drew rs 3.6 lakh (rs 360,000) a
year. after ril announced its mega plan, d'mello started
sniffing around for greener pastures. within weeks, he
bagged a rs 5.5-lakh (rs 550,000) letter from a competitor.
no sooner had he pocketed the letter, he received a rs 7 lakh
(rs 700,000) offer from yet another player. his new recruiter
was aghast, but retained him with a counter-offer of a huge
rs 9 lakh (rs 900,000).
all that money within a single week!
jog observes a new trend where retailers are snapping up
telecom workers. retail is going through the phase that
telecom went through a few years ago, when there weren't
enough trained persons and the growth path the industry
was taking was uncertain. the telecom guys have lived
through that phase. now retail beckons. the hospitality,
fmcg, white goods and bpo sectors are becoming catchment
areas too.
demand & supply: in retail, the store is a delivery
mechanism that enables the transfer of goods from the
seller to the consumer and staffers must be well-versed in
the nuances of this process.
mahajan claims that at the top end, organised retail is
increasingly making room for people who bring in strategy
and planning, and have an operations background. then
there are design people and those with a firm understanding
of the fmcg market.
there's also growing demand for supply chain managers and
visual merchandisers, who are largely responsible for the
look and feel of the store. anyhow, the bulk of the demand
is for the frontliners -- sales executives, department
managers and store managers -- who interact directly with
the customer and comprise 80 per cent of the workforce.
you can start out as a sales executive and expect anywhere
between rs 70,000 and rs 1.2 lakh (rs 120,000) a year. from
there to a department manager or floor supervisor is a flat
two years. at this level, they make anywhere between rs 1.2
lakh and rs 2 lakh (rs 200,000) a year.
as a category, it poses the biggest threat to bpo jobs in the
voice-process arena. moreover, it's a day job and you don't
have to lose your sleep over sam's credit card in tuscaloosa.
in another year-and-a-half, you should aim for the store
manager's slot. with an assured rs 4 lakh-11 lakh (rs
400,000-1.1 million) per annum, this is a category where
the shortfall is most pronounced. "most retailers are putting
mechanisms in place to train their own staff to become
store managers. before reliance announced its grand plans,
this bracket made only rs 15,000 a month," says mahajan.
then you move on to become an area manager, take charge
of a few stores of the brand in the region and make
anywhere between rs 12 lakh (rs 1.2 million) and rs 25 lakh
(rs 2.5 million) a year.
the ultimate goal is to make it to the grade of an operations
head or the chief of strategy and planning, where seasoned
retailers make rs 20 lakh-50 lakh (rs 2-5 million)a year.
amid the din, uday chawla, managing partner of transearch
india, a headhunting firm, is bullish. "there'll be faster
promotions in retail and, hence, higher salaries." all said
and done, jobs in retail are piping hot. now we recommend
you don't pay the piper. face the music.
job twist in the retail
by function
level

operations asst manager

manager
general manager
vice-president
supply chain executive
manager
value chain head
visual merchandising (vm) store vm
area vm
merchandising head
by rank
qualifications

sales executive undergrad or even a dropou

department manager graduate with two years of e
store manager graduate, preferably mba, w
management skills, should b
area manager graduate, preferably mba, w
head of operations mba, with minimum 10-12 y