I read that there is a good possibility that the Indian government will open doors to foreign investment in the food and non-food retail sector. If this happens (and it sounds like it will), Walmart will be in India before the end of the year.
For a long time now, India has not opened doors to foreign investment in the retail sector. This has been opposed in the interest of supporting local shopkeepers and small local businesses that run a major proportion of the retail sector in India. This is particularly true of the food retail industry. There are few or no supermarkets in most parts of the country (in recent years this has slowly started changing in major cities like Mumbai, Delhi and so on). There are few or no national franchises. Grocery is procured by people walking over to the store around the corner or to the hand-driven vegetable cart a few blocks away. Alternatively, often, the vegetable vendor goes from home to home in a community to sell vegetables. He gets the produce from local farmers, sometimes from out of the state. Grocery, especially perishable food is bought on a daily basis. Milk is almost always delivered to individual homes on a daily basis. The entire model of small business food retailing is a deep and intricately part of the culture. It is not just an economic approach outlined in some text book.
Every morning is begun with the familiar ring of the door bell. It rings the arrival of milk. This spins off the start of the day in every Indian household. Chai is made, the newspaper arrives and the Indian housewife (or husband these days) gets the breakfast going. As the day progresses, various helpers around the house, make runs to variously different corner stores to procure any one of cleaning supplies, freshly ground flour, medicines or other sundry goods. Early evenings beckon Indian women to the streets to get fresh produce for the evening meal and the next day's lunch. Grocery shopping is more than just an errand to get groceries. It is when all the women see their friends, meet with other folks in the community, exchange stories, gossip, talk about issues pertaining to the community, the state or the nation at large. They see the same familiar faces day in and day out, they build relationships with those faces, they become their friends, they feel at home. They go to the same vegetable vendors day after day. They bargain with them, squabble over the freshness of the produce and make stern request for better quality only to return the next day and do the same. They build a connection with the milkman and the vegetable vendor. They share in their joys and sorrows. They give them gifts on Diwali. Its all part of being in a community.
The newspapers are all talking about the economic impact of India opening up its retail sector. I am worried about that, but, even more than that, I am worried about the impact on the very fabric of Indian culture -- the relationships between its people. In the largest democracy of the world, a majority of the people live below the poverty line. They depend on the middle class and the rich not only for employment but also for a connection. Those that can afford depend on those that cannot and vice versa. While sad in some ways, its a beautifully woven symbiotic relationship. Every house helper, every milkman, every newspaper delivery fellow, every vegetable vendor is depended on by several middle-to-richer income families. That dependence builds relationships that bridge the deep economic ravine.
If Walmart came to India, what would happen to the milkman and the newspaper delivery boy and the vegetable vendor? What would they do? Who would employ them? Further, what would the middle and rich classes do? They would probably drive their cars to Walmart, use shopping carts to get all their goods, come home and never see the face of another person that couldnt afford what they could. They wouldnt need all those people that they depend on today. They would never know the sorrows and joys of the poor. They would never feel their pain. There would be no relationships to bridge the economic disparity. The ravine would only grow deeper. I worry about this.
It is my sincere hope that before India gets excited about receiving Walmart, we pause and ask whether we are ready to receive the change of culture and relationships that define what is India. That to me is the bigger question.
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