Retail sales up 7% in June, says industry body
New Delhi: Retail sales grew 7% year-on-year in June, according to the 41st edition of the Retail Business Survey by the Retailers Association of India (RAI). “Retailers witnessed a modest growth of 7% in the month of June 2023. Food and grocery and footwear showed a growth at 15% while jewellery has shown a 14% growth.
As consumers are now getting into their normal business routines, we are witnessing moderate growth over previous year. We need to wait till the festival season to draw definitive conclusions," said Kumar Rajagopalan, chief executive, Retailers Association of India (RAI). Retail businesses across regions have indicated growth in sales as compared to June 2022 sales level, with southern India signalling growth of 8%, while eastern India and western India indicate 7% and 6% growth, respectively, followed by northern India at 5%.
Categories such as food and grocery and footwear reported the highest growth of 15% each, followed by jewellery (14%). Meanwhile, sports goods as a category grew 13% year-on-year. Sales of apparel,however, reported tepid growth, rising 7% year-on-year.
Last month in a separate survey, Clothing Manufacturing Association of India (CMAI) had said that manufacturers and traders of wedding clothing reported average to poor sales in the past season. More than 60% of the respondents attributed the weak performance to the general economic slowdown, while 14% attributed it to high prices, it said. Both surveys point to a broader slowdown in discretionary categories such as clothing.
Retailers Association of India represents hundreds of small and large retailers pan-India. The industry body has been releasing monthly data on retail sales since the onset of the pandemic. Retail as a sector
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