Mumbai, Dec 10 (UNI) The Federation of Retailers Association of India (FRAI) has appealed to the Government of India for stronger measures to support small retailers, warning that thousands of local grocery and kirana shop owners are facing an existential crisis due to the rapid rise of e-commerce and quick-commerce platforms.
“The rapid rise of e-commerce and quick-commerce platforms in India is causing a steep decline in income and livelihoods for thousands of local grocery and kirana shop owners,” the association said in a statement. FRAI raised its demands at an event organised on the occasion of the 9th National Retailers Day in New Delhi.
Citing market studies, FRAI noted that at least 200,000 kirana stores closed last year as consumers increasingly shifted to quick-commerce platforms such as Blinkit and Zepto.
Further, a December 2024 study by JP Morgan on offline grocery stores in Mumbai showed that 60 per cent of them have seen a decline in their sales volume due to the mushrooming of dark stores of quick commerce platforms, it added.
According to FRAI, over the past few years, digital platforms have reshaped consumer behaviour through deep discounts, rapid delivery promises, and aggressive marketing campaigns, leaving small retailers struggling to compete on an uneven playing field. As a result, many kirana stores are witnessing dramatic reductions in footfall and sales.
“Compounding the problem is the manner in which large, often foreign-funded e-commerce and quick-commerce companies engage with the small-retailer ecosystem. Instead of empowering shop owners to grow their independent businesses, many of these platforms are turning them into delivery personnel or last-mile service agents.”
This shift discourages and diminishes entrepreneurship, converting once-independent proprietors into gig-economy workers with uncertain incomes and limited protections. Given this grim trajectory, there is an urgent need for a fair, well-designed support model that protects the interests of small retailers and local entrepreneurs.
Without intervention, the backbone of India’s informal retail economy risks collapsing along with the livelihoods of millions of small-scale shop owners who have long served as the heart of community commerce, it said.
The retailers in the event urged the government to equip local Kirana stores with a dedicated technology platform that would enable them to compete fairly with quick-commerce companies and operate on equal footing. FRAI further highlighted that a powerful step in empowering small retailers is through the government-backed ONDC (Open Network for Digital Commerce).
