Jeff Bezos versus Mukesh Ambani isn't the only fight in India's retail

 Away from this high-profile fight for the ordinary Indian's wallet, a different contest is shaping up for control of what goes on shop shelves

A bruising battle for supremacy between two of the world’s richest men is hogging the limelight, but the silent changes in India’s retail landscape deserve equal attention.
The ongoing digital transformation of the corner kirana stores, tens of millions of shops catering to 1.3 billion consumers, will matter for everyone from Unilever NV and Procter & Gamble Co. to State Bank of India, the country’s largest lender. It will also be important to Amazon.com Inc. boss Jeff Bezos and Reliance Industries Ltd. Chairman Mukesh Ambani.

The two billionaires are circling each other over an Indian retailer in crisis. The founder of Future Group took Jeff Bezos’s money, but sold his debt-laden business to Mukesh Ambani when the pressure from the pandemic became too much. Amazon is in India’s courts to scuttle the $3.4 billion sale, which could end up making Reliance’s dominance over the consumer economy unshakeable.

Away from this high-profile fight for the ordinary Indian’s wallet, a different contest is shaping up for control of what goes on shop shelves. Reaching small stores in a country of more than 660,000 villages and 8,000 cities and towns has traditionally been an uphill struggle for brands. Even Unilever, which has been in India for almost a century, can barely tap 15 per cent of all retailers directly. It needs wholesalers to boost that reach to 80 per cent-plus, according to investment research and asset management company Sanford C. Bernstein & Co.