India most attractive for retail investment: AT Kearney

15 June 2009

With consumer spending and retail sales declining in most of the global developed markets in the aftermath of the banks-induced economic downturn, India has emerged as the most attractive market for retail investment followed by Russia and China.

According to a new report by management consulting firm A T Kearney for its eighth annual Global Retail Development Index (GRDI) of 30 emerging markets, the larger, more resilient emerging markets are most likely to lead the economic recovery with India being ranked number one, followed by Russia and China.

The GRDI  is based on a set of 25 variables including economic and political risk, retail market attractiveness, retail saturation levels, and the difference between gross domestic product growth and retail growth.

The study revealed that the emerging markets continue to represent attractive investment opportunities for global retailers and the economic downturn has made the entry to many of these markets more critical and relevant.

For the fourth time in five years, India was rated as the most attractive country for retail investment in the AT Kearney Index.

Russia, China, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Vietnam, Chile, Brazil, Slovenia and Malaysia round up the GRDI's 2009 top 10 countries.