Indian retail industry, growing at 10 per cent, may almost double to Rs.85 trillion (lakh cr.) by 2021 steered by consumer data and technology disruptions, says a joint report by Ficci and Deloitte. Consumer retail forms an integral part of the industry with current estimated size of more than Rs.45 trillion. The report predicted that Internet will play a prime role in driving the growth for consumer business sectors and consumer data and insights will be at the forefront of defining the trends. The data generated by shoppers and consumer behaviour would be leveraged to overhaul the consumer retail journey, using means such as Internet of Things (IoT) and predictive analysis. Similarly, increasing use of smartphones, apps, web, social media etc. will lead to growth of omni-channel retail by amalgamation of offline and online services. According to the report, the spend on digital marketing by advertisers would also double in the next 4 years to 24 per cent of total expenses.

(Business Standard)