After slowing down store expansion rates due to declining demand, almost a dozen listed lifestyle, grocery, and quick-service restaurant (QSR) chains cut staff by almost 26,000 in FY ’24, reversing the recruiting frenzy of the previous two fiscal years.
Based on their most recent annual reports, the five shops who witnessed the biggest drop in staff were Titan, Raymond, Page, Reliance Industries’ retail division, and Spencers. Together, these stores lost 52,000 jobs, or 17 per cent of their workforce. The retail sector, the second-largest employer after agriculture, had a personnel total that included both permanent and contract workers, with attrition taken into account. In FY ’24, the aggregate employment of these retailers numbered 429,000, up from 455,000 the previous year.
“There is a shortage of talent and we are trying to tie up with universities so that the industry has the option to hire. Some companies might have reduced staff due to shutting of some business, but companies like Shoppers Stop and Trent continue to expand and will require staff,” said Kumar Rajagopalan, CEO of Retailers Association of India that represents organised retailers in the country.
In the post-pandemic period, vengeance shopping led to a spike in spending across all categories, from cars to garments, and this growth in retail sales in India fell to 4 per cent last year. In FY ’24, there were fewer voluntary separations overall than in FY ’23, according to RIL’s annual report. Employee turnover in the retail sector is usually high, particularly in store operations.
Due to poor sales, these businesses expanded their stores at the slowest rate in at least five years—9 per cent. According to commercial real estate services company CBRE, the retail industry occupied 7.1 million square feet of space across the top eight cities in 2023. By 2024, this number is predicted to drop to 6-6.5 million square feet.
