Retail sales jump 19% from pre-pandemic levels, West India leads recovery:RAI survey

• Retail sales across India has grown 19% since the pre-pandemic levels, reveals survey.
  
• According to the survey, West India led the retail sales growth story in India.
  
• Consumer durables and electronics saw the strongest growth from pre-pandemic levels, followed by Quick Service Restaurants.

Retail sales across India saw a 19% growth in October 2022 compared with the pre-pandemic levels (2019) and a 15% growth from a year earlier, a Retail Business Survey by the Retailers Association of India (RAI) revealed on Monday.

The survey further revealed that West India led the retail sales during October 2022, signaling a growth of 25% from the pre-pandemic levels in October 2019. South India and East India indicated a growth of 18% each, followed by North India at 14%.

“The removal of pandemic-related restrictions has resulted in all-round growth of retail businesses across regions and categories. In order to understand the complete impact of the festival season on retail sales, it is essential to see the figures of October and November combined. We would await the results for the month of November to draw definitive conclusions. However, all the signs indicate a positive trend,” said Kumar Rajagopalan, CEO, RAI.

In terms of categories, consumer durables and electronics saw the strongest growth at 38% followed by Quick Service Restaurants at 33% from October 2019.

Sports goods came next at 30% growth followed by food & groceries that indicated a 23% rise from pre-pandemic levels, RAI said.

Comparison with October 2021 levels, however, showed that sports goods saw the biggest jump at 35% followed by consumer durables and electronics at 32%.

RAI is an advocate for retailers in India and works with all levels of government and stakeholders to promote and sustain retail investments.

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