Top 15 Retail Companies in India

Have you ever thought that how do we remain to stay relevant in Brick and Mortar Retail stores in the era of Amazon and Wal-mart?

I honestly believe the answer hasn’t changed much over the years- “It’s about the Experience!”

Retailing has probably put more effort into understanding consumer behavior than any other industry.

As a shopper, you would definitely have witnessed the sea change in the way we buy goods nowadays.

Indian Retail sector has seen tremendous growth in the organized segment.

Earlier, we shopped at small stores run by individual entrepreneurs, retail outlets run by cooperative societies and in some cases, company showrooms.

Thanks to large retail chains in India, you can now buy everything from groceries and household requirements to electronics, smartphones and fashion apparel under a single roof.

There are several reasons why large retail companies have changed the way you shop.

Overview of India’s Retail Sector

The entry of top retail companies in India was prompted by one major fact:

Retail business contributes 10 percent to this country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

Further, the organized and unorganized retail sector of India provides employment to about eight to 10 percent of the working population.

India has the world’s second richest ‘middle class’ population. The country is witnessing urbanization at an unprecedented pace, thanks to the concept of ‘Smart Cities.’

Additionally, over 300 million Indians are connected to the Internet with smart-phones. These facts make it lucrative for retail companies to operate in India.

Here we look at the major players in the retail industry in India.However, the listing does not indicate ranking or financials of any company. The list is for information and educational purposes only.

List of Top 15 Retail Companies in India:

The list of 15 top retail companies we provide is based on details gathered from various sources.

1) Reliance Retail

Reliance Retail owns stores of its various brands in India. It ranks among the topmost Indian retail companies.

Reliance Fresh has over 500 stores in India selling fresh fruit and vegetables while Reliance Smart is a range of supermarkets located in various Indian cities.

Reliance Market operates over 40 neighborhood grocery stores.

The company also owns Reliance Digital, that has some 2,000 stores selling electronics and mobile phones across India, Jio Stores has operations in 700 cities of this country, lifestyle retail chain Reliance Trends has 419 stores, a specialized brand store for women, Project Eve operates about 10 outlets, Reliance Jewels has over 60 showrooms.

Additionally, Reliance Retail operates some 419 stores across India for top foreign brands including Marks & Spencer, Vision Express, Quicksilver, Diesel, and others.

2) Tata Group

Tata Group is a very highly respected and oldest indigenous corporate giant founded in 1868.

The group’s company, Trent Ltd operates Westside which is billed as India’s fastest growing lifestyle store.

Trent Ltd also owns and operates Star Bazaar in Joint Venture with British retail giant, Tesco.

Additionally, Tata Group owns several retail stores that includes showrooms for its passenger and commercial vehicles, Croma brand of electronic and home appliance outlets, Poltrona Frau Group Design Center for luxury furnishings, World of Titan- which is India’s largest watch retailer, Titan Eye+ chain of eyewear and prescription glasses stores and two exclusive gems and jewelry boutiques branded Tanishq and Zoya.

Additionally, there are a few retail outlets that operate under Fastrack brand for watches, belts, sunglasses and other accessories and Sonata, for an eponymous brand of watches.

3) Raymond Group

Raymond Group is one of the oldest retail industry in  India and was established in 1925.

Raymond Ltd Group is well reputed for its eponymous brand of clothing and superior quality fabrics. The parent company is the world’s largest manufacturer of integrated fabrics.

Raymond Group owns over 1,100 showrooms in nearly 400 cities of India under this flagship brand.

Additionally, the company operates showrooms under the popular Park Avenue brand of clothing and men’s requirements.

Additionally, the company also manufactures Fast Moving Consumer Goods under Park Avenue, JK Helen Curtis, JK Ansell and KamaSutra brands.

As a brand, Raymond cuts across generations and starts with a great advantage. There is enough evidence of global premium brands expanding into FMCG successfully.

The company’s apparel and FMCG products like consumer items, food products, soaps, toothpaste etc form a vital part of our lives are also retailed by over other outlets in India.

FMCG companies are business giants which influence our daily to daily activities with important product offerings.

Further, there are retail stores and retail booths of the Raymond brand in some 50 countries worldwide.

4)Kurl-on

Bangalore-based Kurl-on ranks as India’s fourth largest retail company.

Launched in 1962 as Karnataka Consumer Products Ltd, Kurl-on manufactures 126 different types of mattresses.

The company specializes in coir and foam based products.

Additionally, the company also makes pillows and cushion, sofas, furniture, furnishings and foam products.

Kurl-on operates some 500 stores in India under three brands- Kurl-on Home Komforts, Kurl-on Mattress Xpress, and Kurl-on Corner.

Its products are sold by more than 10,000 dealers and stores in more than 1,000 locations in India.

5) Aditya Birla Fashion & Retail Ltd

Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail Ltd (ABFRL) became one oft opmost India’s retail companies in May 2015 following the consolidation of several fashion brands owned by India’s corporate giant, Aditya Birla Group.

The company owns nearly 700 stores across India.ABFRL has also franchisees abroad.

ABFRL’s brands include Madura Fashion division, Pantaloons Fashion and Retail and Madura Fashion & Lifestyle.

ABFRL’s fashion brands include Louise Philippe, Van Heusen, Allen Solly and Peter England.

It also includes India’s first fast-fashion youth brand, People; India’s largest fully integrated fashion multi-brand outlet chain, Planet Fashion; India’s largest premium international brand retailer.

6)Kewal Kiran Clothing Ltd

More than 330 stores located in 200 cities and towns across 25 states of India make Kewal Kiran Clothing Ltd a formidable player in India’s retail industry.

“Kewal Kiran Clothing Limited (KKCL) is one of India’s largest branded apparel manufacturers, engaged in the designing, manufacturing, and marketing of branded jeans and a wide range of western wear, since 1992,” states its corporate website.

The company’s flagship is Killer brand of denim wear.

Other brands include integrity, K-Lounge, and Easies. The company also offers a franchise for its stores in foreign countries.

7) Future Retail Ltd

Future Retail Ltd ranks among the largest retail sector companies of India. It serves some 330 million customers in 290 cities across the country.

Future Retail’s stores in India occupy a combined 12 million square feet of space.

Brands include Big Bazar hypermarkets, FBB fashion garments stores, EasyDay Club, the neighborhood grocery chain, HyperCity malls, eZone stores for electronics, home appliances, computers and mobile phones and Foodhall, a premium lifestyle food store.

8) Avenue Supermarts Ltd

Avenue Supermarts Ltd owns DMart stores in several states of India, including Maharashtra, Karnataka, Gujarat, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh Madhya Pradesh and Chattisgarh.

Avenue Supermarts runs stores at multiple locations in major cities of India, especially Mumbai, Bangalore,  Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Pune and Surat to name a few.

DMart sells a wide range of products from foodstuff to household requirements, apparel, fresh produce and lots more.

Avenue Supermarts Ltd runs over 110 stores in India as well as DMart shopping website.

9)  Godrej India Ltd

Godrej India Ltd is one of the oldest business houses in India, established in 1897.

Godrej India Ltd is also one of the largest producers of Fast Moving Consumer Goods in this country.

Its retail outlets include Godrej Nature’s Basket- stores that sell high-quality food products and Godrej Interio showrooms that offer furniture, furnishings, electronics and electrical appliances and other home and office requirements.

Godrej India Ltd has a global presence, with its products exported around the world.

10)  Future Lifestyle Fashions Ltd

Future Lifestyle Fashions Ltd operates popular brand stores, department stores and multi-brand outlets including Central, Brand Factory, and Planet Sports.

FLF owns over 400 stores located across India that occupy a combined five million square feet of retail space.

FLF also owns and retails over 25 fashion brands. Its fashion brands include Cover Story, all, UMM (Underground Music Movement), Lee Cooper, Bare Casuals, Scullers, Indigo Nation, Spalding, RIG, Converse, Lombard, Daniel Hechter, Clarks, Celio, Mother Earth and many more.

11)  K Raheja Corp Group

Indian real estate major, K Raheja Corp Group is a retail giant.

The company owns and operates Inorbit Malls. It also runs company Shoppers Stop Ltd, which runs about 85 eponymous stores in some 40 locations in the country.

Shoppers Stop Ltd is listed on stock exchanges of India. Further, the group owns Crossword, a chain of stores that sells books, educational material, movies, music, toys, stationery and gift items, among others items.

K Raheja Corp Group is also engaged in the hospitality sector and operates Renaissance chain of luxury hotels in India.

12)  V2 Retail Ltd

V2 Retail Limited is engaged in sales of garments, textiles, accessories and consumer durables products in India.

Its portfolio includes apparels and household goods, footwear, toys, games, handbags, cosmetics, home furnishing, decor product and sports items.

V2 Retail Ltd has 27 stores in India, including four in New Delhi- National Capital Region, 11 in Bihar, six in Uttar Pradesh, two in Odisha, and one each in Uttarakhand, Jharkhand, Karnataka,and Assam, states the company website.

13) Provogue (India) Ltd

Provogue is a major, homegrown fashion brand owned by Provogue (India) Limited, a company listed on the Mumbai and national stock exchanges.

Provogue Brand was launched in 1998 and since has emerged as a leading player in menswear contemporary clothing.

The company operates over 50 stores in 25 states of India under the Provogue brand. Additionally, you can buy Provogue fashion wear through some 300 outlets across the country.

14)  V-Mart Retail Ltd

Since its humble beginnings in 2003, V Mart has graduated into an Indian retail major.

V-Mart primarily operates in Tier-II and Tier-II cities of India, under the brand ‘Value Retail’ departmental stores.

The company website states, V-Mart Retail owns 170 stores across 144 cities in 14 states and Union Territories, with a total retail area covering 1.2 million square feet area.

V-Mart stores are located in Bihar, Chandigarh, Gujarat, Haryana, Jammu and Kashmir, Madhya Pradesh, New Delhi, Punjab, Rajasthan, Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh.

15) Cantabil Retail India Ltd

Cantabil Retail India Ltd designs and retails an eponymous brand of fashion wear.

The company has a network of over 180 retail outlets Cantabil offers the complete range of formal-wear, party-wear, casuals and ultracasual clothing for men and women.

CANTABIL has become a complete family wear brand with the addition of women’s wear segment in 2007.

Cantabil brand’s popularity can be gauged from the fact that it sold fashion wear worth Rs. 1.61 billion during the financial year 2016-2017.

The company owns another brand, Kaneston, which is also popular among Indian shoppers.

Also Read: Top 10 Retail Outlets in India

Special Mention: Indian Railways

Indian Railways is also one of the largest retail companies in India and It also ranks among the world’s largest logistics companies.

Check out: Top 15 logistics companies in India

Indian Railways also operates its own branded canteen and stores.

This is because Indian Railways licenses thousands of canteens that feed millions of passengers at more than 7,000 railway stations in India.

Additionally, These canteens and stores sell Indian Railways branded products including ‘Rail Neer’ or bottled drinking water and ‘Janata Khana’ or basic meal.

Plus, they also sell FMCG products such as soft drinks, biscuits, baby food, packaged snacks, soap, toothbrush and toothpaste, and newspapers, among other stuff.

Wrap Up

India’s retail market is expected to increase by 60 percent to reach US$ 1.1 trillion by 2020.

Currently, the retail industry of India exhibits a Compounded Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 12 percent per annum.

The organized retail market in India is worth US$ 60 billion and only contributes to about nine percent of the sector. Unorganized retail accounts for whopping 91 percent.

In Conclusion

Though retail companies of India are operating thousands of brick-and-mortar stores, they are now stepping up online presence too.

Indications are that e-commerce retail in India will outstrip conventional shopping by consumers in the next few years.

Already, several major retail companies have opened their own online shopping portals and sell goods through reputed e-stores.

Further, India’s e-commerce market will shoot the US$ 220 billion mark in terms of gross merchandise value (GMV), coming from some 530 million shoppers by 2025.

This will be caused by easier and cheaper availability of high-speed Internet, especially on smart-phones.

India’s direct selling industry will grow to an estimatedUS$ 2.5 billion by 2021, it is projected.

This is good news for consumers. For customers, it translates as heavy discounts as brick-and-mortar stores compete fiercely with their online competitors for a slice of the market.

Superior quality products at affordable rates will decide who wins the battle for India’s retail market.