India's Retail Sector opens up to Foreign Players

[GpeL]

Ok here it is .. it was year 2000. My eldest one was 9 months old. My wife had gone to INdia with her parents when my child was like five months old to spend some time there as the parents were returning after staying with us for six months a month before delivery and 5 since.. I had no female help at home, first kid, wifey was scared to sorta take care of her alone.. what if the child gets hurt when I am cooking kinds.. My daugher was a very active and adjustable kid. She wanted mom ONLY when she needed to be nursed. (Ypu old style was my rule.. till 1 year old you have to nurse it no if no but unless medically adviced to refrain was my condition for her to have a child she wanted kids I did not so that was the trade off).. So at 9 months, she was still having mom's milk along with other food. So that is the setup.

When milk not needed she was ok with strangers as long as whe could do what she pleased. Now return time. These are days before PIO. You if a foreigner on visiting visa )my child was born in USA!!) have to register at the nearest police station on arrival, state when you were expected to leave and have that "registration" papers along with you or stamped on PP (not sure about that). My wife returning alone with the baby. Goes to immigration counter and the bloke there tells her

Dude: Your child is cute... kichu kichu.. kichu..oooo uuuu..ooo..
Wife: Thanks
Dude: She is an american citizen eh!
Wife: Yeh!!
Dude: Hmm you did not register her at the nearest police station? That is the rule!!
Wife: I wasn't aware of that.
He stamps my wifes passport and seeing she is vulnarable if he does not let the kid clear through. So says.. you should have you know.. rules! I mean. I can stamp it but it will cost you 1000$ (no kidding).
Wife: What???
He says.. you are free to go. But I am afraid I have to detain the kid.
Wife: Can you give me a few minutes? Almost in tears!
He: Alright.
I at work at this point in USA. I get her call with what happened.
I am first livid this is simple ransom!! anyways I told her this.
Me: Did she have her quota (milk)?
She: yaa but it will be time in about an hour or so.. she will be sleepy and will get cranky.
BINGO... Just what I expected for an answer.
Me: Leave her with him. She will be ok for the time right.
She: I guess so.. she seems to be comfortable with him. There is a girl too playing with her.
Me: Just tell that dude he can keep the kid and take your passport. Refuse any payment and walk away and take your seat.
She: No.. please.. do something.. no..
Me. Relax.. you watch the fun.
SHe: You are an ass.
Me. Agreed.
She puts the phone down. And she ALWAYS obeyed me hell or high water so went and did exactly as I told her.
As expected, my daughter got sleepy.. and now she wants her mommy.. and milk.. the dude is out of wits now.. my wife is now watching the fun.. the kid is not hungry just angry and cranky.. she is starting to throw things around.. mess up their table. Tantrum soon to follow.
The dude realizes he has bit more than he can chew.. he hands the counter over to his asst and picks up my child and starts looking for my wife.. my wife is smiling. Kid does not let go at that. SHe pees on that dude..

My wife on arrival was both crying and laughing.. she was like I cannot imagine you telling me to leave the kid.. what if he did not return her? I relaxed her. Said he was being an ass and he had no leg to stand on.. a nine months old terrorist entered india and detaine.. for not registering in the police station. Imagine that headline. Just have to think re.. I knew baby will convince them more readily than you or me could ever do it..

(That reg. requirement was to track foreigners etc so they do not indulge in illegal activities esp agaist the country!! a nine month old terrorist would make quite big news splash and given she was an american kid, the US Embasy would have had all the ministeres one by one for breakfast!!).

[sgars]

Haha What an experience.


Do you mean to say all those women i saw in a Goa beach had visited Police stations and went through this stamping thing

I thought this police station thing was only for Pakistanis. My first encounter with a Pki happened in a police station.

If you ask me what i was doing in a Thana, well, i was in a govt college (doing +2) and had lost my ID card. The first step to get a new one was to Lodge an FIR and that is what took me to the PS. This P Bloke was also there to register and all that stuff.

[GpeL]

Ahh no it used to be applicable to All foreigners.. common wealth dunno but amrus yse .. I would have not asked you that thana question.. I have been in and out quite a few times myself during my student life.

[sgars]

Originally Posted by swami

Online shopping is now a trend in India.
We have Flipkart,Snapdeal,Localbaniya and Amazon as popular online stores.

Please share your experiences if any with these or any other online shops

I purchased few things from flipkart and the experience was very good.

You getting tempted to see if there is other bargain and buy is the only drawback I see.

Remembered this thread on seeing Swamiji's post and replies.

There was no Walmart or Tesco last time i went to APna Desh in 2013. I did see Mark and Spencer long before FDI actually opened up. Looks like they were lending their label to a Desi player

Have any of the Brick and wall retailers from overseas put up shop in India.

Or looks like another cases of Leapfrogging. From local grocers directly to online retail (though there were a lot of supermarkets in the last 20 years)

Other Leapfroging examples are -
1. Moved from an Agri economy to a service economy, without much of industrialization
2. Jumped directly to cellphones.


2.

[sgars]

This is the first large Brick and Mortar retail in India i know of. The only foreign retailer i know of is Amazon. Or Flipkart and Snapdeal also have high foreign equity holders.

After years of waiting, Ikea is finally set to take on one of the world's biggest markets.
The Swedish furniture company will open its first retail store in India to customers on Thursday morning, where it anticipates as many as 7 million visitors a year.

The new store is spread across 400,000 square feet in the southern city of Hyderabad, part of Ikea's plans to invest 105 billion rupees ($1.5 billion) in India over the next several years. It's one of the biggest Ikea stores anywhere in the world.

[Sane Less]

I think this is Trump's plan to get gultis to go back to Cyberabad

[dirty]

Originally Posted by sgars

This is the first large Brick and Mortar retail in India i know of. The only foreign retailer i know of is Amazon. Or Flipkart and Snapdeal also have high foreign equity holders.

After years of waiting, Ikea is finally set to take on one of the world's biggest markets.
The Swedish furniture company will open its first retail store in India to customers on Thursday morning, where it anticipates as many as 7 million visitors a year.

The new store is spread across 400,000 square feet in the southern city of Hyderabad, part of Ikea's plans to invest 105 billion rupees ($1.5 billion) in India over the next several years. It's one of the biggest Ikea stores anywhere in the world.

The world's largest IKEA store at 59,000 square meters (640,000 square feet)[4][105] opened near the KTX Gwangmyeong Station, located at the heart of the Seoul Capital Area, on December 18, 2014.[106] The second store opened in Goyang on October 19, 2017, which is even larger at 164,000 square meters (1.76-million square feet) in gross floor area, breaking the previous world record holder's 131,550 square meters.


Largest Stores


Gwangmyeong, Gyeonggi, South Korea: 57,100 m2 (614,619.3 sq ft)[142]
Stockholm Kungens Kurva, Sweden: 55,200 m2 (594,167.9 sq ft)[142]
Shanghai Baoshan, China: 55,032 m2 (592,359.5 sq ft)
Goyang, Gyeonggi, South Korea: 52,199 m2 (561,865.4 sq ft)[143]
Bangyai, Nonthaburi, Thailand 50,278 m2 (541,187.9 sq ft)[

[sarv_shaktimaan]

Originally Posted by dirty

the world's largest ikea store at 59,000 square meters (640,000 square feet)[4][105] opened near the ktx gwangmyeong station, located at the heart of the seoul capital area, on december 18, 2014.[106] the second store opened in goyang on october 19, 2017, which is even larger at 164,000 square meters (1.76-million square feet) in gross floor area, breaking the previous world record holder's 131,550 square meters.


Largest stores


gwangmyeong, gyeonggi, south korea: 57,100 m2 (614,619.3 sq ft)[142]
stockholm kungens kurva, sweden: 55,200 m2 (594,167.9 sq ft)[142]
shanghai baoshan, china: 55,032 m2 (592,359.5 sq ft)
goyang, gyeonggi, south korea: 52,199 m2 (561,865.4 sq ft)[143]
bangyai, nonthaburi, thailand 50,278 m2 (541,187.9 sq ft)[