“These growing challenges are now starting to shrink the window of opportunity for new entrants to the country. However, most large foreign retailers with plans to be relevant in India already have offices and operations in the country. Large domestic players have also hit the ground running and most are executing extremely aggressive growth plans,” said the management consultant's principal (consumer industries and retail practice), Hemant Kalbag.

However, India remains one of the most attractive destinations for global retailers. Retail market opportunity for the country has been pegged at $510 billion, and spending patterns and consumer maturity are growing faster than most global retailers had forecast.