The Indian government’s recent reforms spree to kickstart
a stagnant economy could open new vistas for geospatial industry in the
country
"I am told there are people who do not care for maps, and I find it hard to believe."
— Robert Louis Stevenson, The Art of Writing
Stevenson, whose masterpiece The Treasure Island opened the first
secrets of maps for us, couldn''t have been more relevant today. As
governments and businesses across the world take to geospatial
technology to unlock the secret to many a mystery, a host of geospatial
companies are excited about fresh business prospects the economic
reforms in India could unfold for them. This has come after the Indian
government finally bit the bullet and opened up foreign direct
investment in sectors such as retail, pension and insurance, and
airlines after years of contemplation and ambivalence.
"We are already in talks with a major US retailer for identifying
locations and planing logistics," says Rajesh Mathur, Vice Chairman,
Esri India. Big retailers such as Tesco, Wal-Mart, Carrefour extensively
use GIS for identifying locations, business analytics, building up
inventory etc. "And multinational firms always bring with them the best
practices. Given that, it''s obvious that we will see a lot of activity
in the geospatial space," adds Mathur.
Reaping retail shopping
India has emerged as the fifth-most favorable destination for global
retailers, says A T Kearney''s Retail Development Index 2012. The USD
450-billion retail market in India is currently controlled by tiny
mom-and-pop stores, with organised retail comprising only 10 per cent
but expanding at 20 per cent. With increasing disposable incomes and a
middle class of close to 300 million growing at 2 per cent a year,
expansion of shopping centres and malls, the sector is likely to grow to
about USD 900 billion by 2014, projects PwC.
So far, 100 per
cent FDI was allowed only in wholesale ventures. The recent change
allows 100 per cent FDI in single-brand and up to 49 per cent in
multi-brand retail, subject to sourcing restrictions and a mandatory
investment clause of at least 50 per cent in backend infrastructure.
To keep up, Indian retail firms must optimise businesses against new
competition, while foreign players, already familiar with cutting-edge
technologies, need to strategise to capture the complex Indian market.
MapmyIndia Director Rohan Verma says in this fast-changing scenario, the
first thing most retailers will look for "is ways to sell efficiently,
which will help reduce the cost to consumers and improve earnings of the
farmer and vendors".
"So if this is a signal for a boom in
retail, and the allied FMCG sector, we see a big boom coming for the
geospatial sector [too]." says Verma.
A critical aspect for a
retailer is location. Other than plain GIS maps, a solutions provider
adds layers of demographic data — population density, incomes and
consumer buying pattern. Traffic generators like the kind of market
areas or shopping malls in an area, petrol pumps, ATMs, restaurants help
them decide on the viability of a place. There is also information
about the supply-chain management — location of vendors and their supply
areas, warehouses, logistics cost from the farmers to warehouses to
retail outlets — that GIS solution providers help retailers with. For
logistics, they need vehicle tracking, fleet management, GPS hardware
and GIS mapping.
Dr. Aniruddha Roy, Vice President, Strategic Business Group (GIS) at
Navayuga Spatial Technologies, sees a huge market potential here.
"Business analytics is for the mobile players when we talk about retail.
Companies dealing in GIS and spatial solutions will be the ones to
gain... also, Web and service-based players." But he is not too
optimistic about the growth pace. "It will still be slow, very slow for
retail... most of the work has already been done," says Roy, implying
FDI proposals had been in the pipeline for some time and foreign
retailers surely did not wait for the last moment to start homework.
"Data is being sent and solutions are being created out there [abroad]."
Mathur, on the other hand, feels there''s enough room for geospatial
companies in India to reap the benefits. "Large companies demand fast
solutions. It''s a part of their workflow. They need it, so we will do
it."
Complete article available on http://geospatialworld.net/Paper/Business/ArticleView.aspx?aid=30357 |
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