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May 15, 2026
The ET Now Swadesh panel discussion focussed on the dual challenge facing the Indian economy: a weakening rupee and rising crude oil prices, which together are driving “imported inflation” and straining household budgets. Devangshu Dutta (Founder, Third Eyesight) put forth the following key points during the discussion (the video link is under the text summary below):
1. Dual Impact on Industry and Consumers:
2. Vulnerability of Small Businesses (SMEs):
3. Income vs. Expenditure Strain:
4. Ripple Effect of Crude Oil Beyond Logistics:
5. Shifts in Consumer Spending Patterns & “Shrinkflation”:
The panel noted that while the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has adequate foreign exchange reserves to defend the rupee temporarily, the definitive solution relies heavily on the cooling down of global geopolitical tensions (such as the Middle East conflict affecting the Strait of Hormuz). Until then, Indian consumers will need careful financial planning and smart spending adjustments to navigate this inflationary phase. [Video below.]
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May 9, 2026
Writankar Mukherjee, Economic Times
Kolkata, 9 May 2026
India’s top retail chains including Reliance Retail, DMart, Trent, Titan Company, Jubilant FoodWorks, and V-Mart Retail opened the highest number of stores in three years in FY26, seeking to capitalise on a demand recovery and a clean-up of unviable outlets added during the post-Covid revenge-spending period.
Entry into smaller towns and cities where many consumers continue to prefer shopping at physical stores over online is also influencing the expansion plans.
An ET study of the 10 largest listed retailers showed they added 25% more stores in the last fiscal year compared to FY25. Additions are on a net basis after accounting for loss-making outlet closures.
Collectively, the retailers added 2,182 stores in FY26, equivalent to six new stores a day on a net basis. In comparison, they added 1,745 stores in FY25 and 1,865 in FY24.
Retailers attributed the store expansion spree to improving consumer sentiment, helped further by cuts in income tax and goods and services tax (GST) rates last fiscal, along with low penetration of organised retail in smaller towns and cities. Together, the ten retailers had 31,394 stores operational as of March 2026.
Expansion Set to Continue
V-Mart Retail chief executive officer Lalit Agarwal said the ongoing shift from unorganised to organised retail is fuelling this expansion as several companies are meeting their sales growth expectations. “Many retailers have also raised capital, which they are deploying to grow topline,” he said, adding that the “growth phase will continue in the current fiscal as well.”
Companies surveyed by ET also include Shoppers Stop, Westlife Foodworld, V2 Retail and Kalyan Jewellers. Together, the ten retailers had 31,394 stores operational as of March 2026. Their combined store count grew 7% in FY26, ahead of a 6% expansion in the year before.
Reliance Retail alone added 820 net stores last fiscal, rebounding from a slowdown in FY25 when it shut several unviable outlets that were opened immediately post Covid, impacting overall industry growth rates. The country’s largest retailer had added 504 net stores in FY25, 796 in FY24, and 2,844 in FY23.
Similarly, Tata-owned Titan added 532 stores in FY23, but expansion moderated to 280-290 stores annually in FY25 and FY26.
India’s retail industry saw hyper expansion in late FY22 and FY23 as retailers sought to tap a boom in post-pandemic revenge shopping.
“Retail expansion now is more organic and measured as compared to the post Covid phase when there was a huge backlog of demand and over expansion,” said Devangshu Dutta, founder and CEO at Third Eyesight, a consultancy in consumer space.
(Published in Economic Times)
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February 18, 2026
Kartikay Kashyap, BrandWagon, Financial Express
18 February 2026
IKEA HAS BEEN around in India for about eight years, with another three years before that spent studying the market. It has developed a range that it deems “locally relevant-like the roti maker, the tava (pan), the belan (rolling pin), and the pressure cooker -which now constitute about 50% of the products it offers in the country. It has shifted its communication strategy to sync with local culture and fit into local spaces and has worked hard to beef up its omnichannel sales model with about 30% of its sales originating online. But profitability has remained elusive for the retailer whose global sales reached approximately €45billion in the 2015 financial year (FY25).
Just for context, the company’s India entity widened its losses by about 29 to 1,325.2 crore in the financial year ending March 31, 2025 (FY25). The revenue also dipped 3 to 1,749.5 crore from 1,809.8 crore in FY25.
So now the brand is taking a leaf out of its China playbook and tweaking its retail formats. Starting last year, it started piloting smaller store sizes ranging from 15,000-20,000 sq ft that are more cost-effective to set up and faster to integrate with its omnichannel model. “The goal is to create a simpler and more efficient shopping experience,” Ingka Group Retail Manager Tolga Oncu had said when the concept was unveiled last August.
Five months on, the furniture retailer is looking to take a step up the ladder – setting up new stores in the 50,000-70,000 sq ft range in the country, which will sit comfortably between its smaller stones (15,000-20,000 sq ft) and big box retail outlets (4 lakh sq ft), Adosh Sharma, country commercial manager at Ikea India told FE recently. Ikea’s broader plan also includes doubling its investments in the country to over 20,000 crore ($2.2 billion) over the next five years and improving local sourcing.
Will all this help the retailer grab a larger share of the highly fragmented furniture and furnishing market in the country? Will the brand achieve profitability in the next two years in keeping with its plans?
Ikea realises copy-pasting its global retail strategy in India is not going to work. That explains its recent moves to tweak store sizes and product design. Over and above the regular 5-M-L strategy, the fourth format the brand is developing comprises no-frills planning and order points, focused on customers who want to design homes or seek complex solutions without distraction.
“Smaller stores, which fulfill purpose-led needs will help them to get closer to their customers,” says Devangshu Dutta, founder & CEO, Third Eyesight.
The furniture and home decor segment has been up against slow purchase cycles in India. Smaller sized stores that are closer to residential arras might help step up the frequency of purchases. “Players are moving towards a higher purchase frequency strategy and smaller stores will help lkea cash in on this opportunity,” says Kushal Bhatnagar, associate partner, Redseer Consultant Strategy. He says quick commerce has helped improve the purchase cycle in the home decor space, and that is something Ikea will likely tap going forwand.
Dutta says Ikea has taken a long-term view on India and the investments in the pipeline is an indication of the opportunity that awaits players.
The brand claims it has served close to 110 million customers in FY25 across channels, and online sales are growing 34% compared to the previous fiscal. While furniture contributed the lion’s share of its revenue, the food business contributed 100% and Ikea for Business (tailored solutions for businesses) another 19% to its topline.
(Published in Financial Express)
admin
February 14, 2026
This episode of theUpStreamlife is a freewheeling conversation between Vishal Krishna and Devangshu Dutta, founder of Third Eyesight, with insights into the growth of modern retail and consumption in India, brand building and M&A, the balance of power between brands and retailers/platforms, sustainability vs growth and many other aspects, and is well-suited for founders and teams who want to be building for the long run in India.
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January 31, 2026
Surabhi Prasad, Business Today
Print Edition: 01 Feb, 2026
The last two years—2024 and, more notably, 2025—saw a wave of protests by a new generation of students and young professionals looking for political change, better economic conditions and more climate awareness across countries, including Bangladesh, Nepal, Indonesia and the Maldives.
But beyond these uprisings, Gen Z, the term used to describe those born in late 1990s to the early part of the 2010s and currently aged around 13-29 years, are not only questioning but also bringing forth changes in societal norms and economic behaviour. It’s not just a generation gap!
Gen Z are digital natives. They are tech savvy, have grown up with Internet in their homes, iPads as their support system, social media as a constant companion and take digital payments, online and quick commerce for granted. They tend to be night owls, the real gigsters, at home with artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning, and with a lingo—cap, salty, suss and tea—that make others scratch their heads.
They also have newer challenges—rising unemployment, an uncertain economic environment, the rise of AI that has put a question mark on the future of work, climate change that is turning more real by the day, and skyrocketing real estate prices that mean a dream home could remain just a dream. Still, they are the rising consumer force who, over the next decade, are poised to become the largest chunk of the labour force and the focus of most companies.
For a country like India that is still young, Gen Z will soon be the economic force to reckon with. A recent report by not-for-profit think tank People Research on India’s Consumer Economy (PRICE) estimates that as of 2025, nearly one in five young individuals globally lives in India. “This is a formidable 420-million strong force, constituting approximately 29% of the nation’s total population, and made up of individuals aged between 15 and 29 as defined by India’s National Youth Policy (2014),” it said.
Labour sociologist Ellina Samantroy, Fellow at the V.V. Giri National Labour Institute, says India’s expanding Gen Z or youth workforce offers a significant opportunity for the country to reap the demographic dividend. As per the recent Periodic Labour Force Survey 2023-24, around 46.5% of the labour force is in the 15-29 age group. “There has been an increase in labour force participation in this age group from 42% during 2021-22. One can see the economic growth potential of this cohort,” she says.
However, with transitions and emerging opportunities in the world of work, it is important to harness the potential of this population cohort with adequate access to education and skilling, she says.
Devangshu Dutta, founder and chief executive of Third Eyesight, a boutique management consulting firm focused on the retail and consumer products ecosystem, says Indian Gen Z consumers are not a uniform cohort.
“A critical issue in India is the coexistence of aspiration and constraint, and India’s Gen Z are shaped by a mix of high digital exposure and wide economic disparity. While they are ambitious and globally aware, their purchasing power varies sharply across segments and locations,” he says.
Further, urban, higher-income Gen Z display global consumption behaviours such as brand experimentation, social commerce and premium aspiration, whereas a large proportion of Gen Z in Tier II, Tier III and rural India is highly value-driven and necessity-led, while drawing their inspiration from global and national sources. He also points out that unlike Millennials, Indian Gen Z are also entering the workforce in a more uncertain economic environment, making price sensitivity, smaller pack sizes and flexible payment options important. “Employment patterns such as informal jobs, gig work and delayed income stability are influencing consumption cycles and brand loyalty,” he says. There is a strong preference for digital discovery, vernacular content and peer-led recommendations, with trust built through community and relevance rather than legacy brand status.
Rising aspirations of Indian households and changes in consumption pattern with a marked move from essentials to more premium products have been well documented, most recently in Household Consumption Expenditure Surveys. But more granular, individual-level data from PRICE shows marked changes in education levels and behaviour of Gen Z and other cohorts such as Millennials (those aged between 30 and 45), Gen X (aged 45-60) and Baby Boomers (60+). A 2024 PRICE ICE 360 Survey of 8,200 respondents (18–70 years) in 25 major cities showed that Gen Z is the most educated cohort, spends the most time browsing the Internet and is more engaged with e-commerce and paid digital services.
Multinational and domestic companies are also now waking up to the Gen Z wave and are realising that they need to review strategies to gain the attention and loyalty of Gen Z as consumers and workers.
“Fashion, beauty and personal care, food and beverages, and mobile and consumer electronics are at the forefront of change in India,” says Dutta. Responding to Gen Z requirements, companies are designing products at accessible price points, expanding entry-level ranges and leveraging sachetisation and subscription models. Brands are investing more in regional languages, local influencers and platforms such as short-video and social commerce channels that resonate with young Indian consumers, he says.
But this process is still at a nascent stage, and many companies and analysts are still trying to assess this generation.
For the 34th Anniversary Issue, we at Business Today decided to decode what Gen Z is truly about, what influences them the most, what they aspire to purchase, what they can afford and what this means for India Inc. Over the course of the last few months, our newsroom saw animated discussions as senior editors sat down with younger colleagues to discuss lifestyle choices, brand loyalties and career ambitions, as we drafted an issue brief and a potential survey.
We then got in touch with PRICE, which worked with us on our survey objectives and tweaked the questionnaire. The result—a first-of-its-kind exercise where PRICE surveyed 4,311 Gen Z respondents, who are now entering the workforce with an income of their own, residing in metros and Tier II cities. The survey covered gender, education, employment status, personal income and household income classes. The main focus was urban, educated Gen-Z who has the income to be a strong consumer.
The research examined consumption behaviour across discretionary and essential categories, savings and credit attitudes, digital influence, brand loyalty, aspirations, and future spending intent.
And the results are indeed, surprising! The survey reveals that traditional consumption models that were built around age-based life stages, linear career progression and early credit adoption no longer hold for Gen Z. “This cohort’s behaviour reflects early exposure to economic shocks, greater career volatility and a redefinition of success away from speed toward resilience,” it underlines.
For businesses, misreading delayed demand as permanent weakness risks underinvestment just as Gen Z approaches its next consumption inflection, it warns. For financial services, premature credit push without trust-building will underperform. For consumer brands, price-led acquisition without quality consistency will fail to convert into lifetime value.
Delve into this issue where BT brings to you the in-depth findings of the survey and explains what this means for companies as they vie for a share of this growing consumer segment. Gen Z is not just about rizz and drip, it is giving the main character energy as they come of age.
(Published in Business Today, issue dated 1 February 2026)
