Retail Development and its Impact on Investor Confidence: An Empirical Study.

Three years after not being in top 10 in Global Retail Development Index given by A. T. Kearney, India bounced back to 2^nd Rank in 2016 Global Retail Development Index (GRDI). With a population of 1.31 billion, the total retail sale of $1.01trillion, and with CAGR (2013-2015) of 8.8%, India is always a retailer's paradise. But high customer inflation, currency fluctuations and ambiguity over foreign direct investment policies have hindered the growth of organized retailing in India since last few years. Government initiatives in improving the ease of doing business, and better clarity regarding foreign direct investment regulation has helped India to improve its ranking in the GRDI. This achievement is going to place India back on the radar of the international retailing companies for their investments in India. This paper attempts to discuss the opportunities to place the retail sector as one of the growth engines of the Indian economy for the coming decade. This paper is organized into three main sections. While the growth of organized retail in the country over last two and a half decades is discusses in the first part, the second part discusses the correlation between GRDI and foreign direct investment confidence index and its impact on overall GDP growth. Third part focuses on policies, institutions and regulations in retail sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]