According to a report by National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC), India will need around 56 million strong workforce in the India’s booming retail sector. This sector will have one of the highest incremental human resource requirement of 17.35 million from 2013-2022 across the 24 sectors that have been mapped for assessing incremental human resource requirement in the country.
As per the findings of the report, the Indian retail industry estimated at USD 435 billion is expected to witness a CAGR of 18.1 per cent over the next 4-5 years and reach USD 848 billion. There will be a considerable rise in demand for skilled manpower in this sector as the industry has been growing at a steady pace fuelled by factors like changing lifestyles, rising disposable incomes, favourable demographics, and easy credit availability.
The report states that the sector contributes to 23 per cent of the GDP, which is driven by an increasing Private Final Consumption Expenditure (PFCE) over the last few years growing from Rs19 lakh crores in 2005 to around Rs51 lakh crores in 2012. In terms of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), cumulative value of retail sector has more than doubled driven by liberalisation in single brand retail norms growing. Organised retail is no more an urban phenomenon. It is estimated that tier-2 and smaller cities will evolve fast to constitute majority share of the organised retail in coming years.
According to the report, the employment base of the industry is expected to reach 56 million by 2022 across conventional and specialised retail segments. While lack of premium attached to skills still remains a challenge in the sector, policy impetus is driving the focus on training.
Shortage of trained manpower at various levels and lack of retail training institutes have prompted several retailers to launch in-house training programmes for their staff or setup their own training facilities in India.