Home ／ Insights on entering the Indian market
2026.09.19
Getting a product onto the shelves of an independent Indian store requires passing through multiple layers of wholesalers. So what about supermarkets, where the negotiating counterpart is clear? It looks like things would move faster, but a different wall awaits there: you pay money before your product even reaches the shelf.
This article sorts out how India's modern trade (modern retail) is segmented, where it is realistic for Japanese products to enter, and what to prepare before business talks. Distribution through independent stores is covered in Is wholesaling to India's ubiquitous kirana shops possible?.
Even lumped together as "supermarkets," these stores differ in customer base and price range. What requires caution is that a single company can operate multiple formats. Reliance Retail runs both the value-focused Smart Bazaar and the ultra-premium Freshpik. Think in terms of "which format," not "which company."
In practice, the premium format is where there is room for Japanese imported food to enter.
| Format | Example | Scale (as of) | Fit with imported food |
|---|---|---|---|
| Value-focused | DMart, Reliance Smart Bazaar | DMart: 510 stores (September 17, 2026). Reliance Retail: 20,169 stores across all formats, 78.4 million sq ft of retail space (as of end of June 2026) | Low. Price is the deciding factor, so higher-priced imported goods don't fit well. |
| General/mixed format | Spencer’s Retail | 89 stores (as of end of June 2026) | Medium. There is a Spencer's Gourmet section inside the store. |
| Premium format | Nature's Basket, Freshpik (Reliance) | Nature's Basket: 31 stores (as of end of June 2026) | High. There are shelves for imported food, and the customer base that comes in accepts higher prices. |
DMart is centered on value pricing and doesn't fit well with the higher unit prices of imported goods. Reliance Retail opened 252 new stores in the April-June 2026 quarter, but it is also closing stores at the same time, so the net increase was only 9 stores, from 20,160 to 20,169. It is more accurate to see this as a phase of replacing existing stores rather than pure expansion. Even so, at a nationwide scale of 20,000 stores, the volume of supply required is on an entirely different order of magnitude.
Nature's Basket is a gourmet food chain operating in Mumbai, Pune, Kolkata, Bengaluru, and other cities, handling fresh produce, seafood, meat, artisanal bread and cheese, and packaged foods. It was sold by the Godrej Group to Spencer's Retail (RPSG Group) in 2019 and is now its subsidiary. Store count stands at 31 (as of end of June 2026), per filings the parent company submitted to the stock exchange.
These premium chains already have shelves for imported food. If European and American products are on the shelves, that means the practical work of importing and pricing has already been established. In practice, this tier is the realistic place to start.
India's retail chains can have a mismatch between their own description and their actual disclosed figures. In the filing Spencer's submitted to the stock exchange in August 2026, the figures table clearly states "Spencer's: 89 stores," while the same document's descriptive text gives two different figures: "120 stores in 23 cities including Nature's Basket" and "131 stores in 27 cities." When gauging scale before business talks, look at the numbers table in the earnings filing rather than the company profile page.
Some chains that have been introduced in Japanese-language articles as upscale Indian supermarkets are no longer in business. Foodhall was part of the Future Group and ended operations following its parent company's collapse; its official domain now redirects to an entirely unrelated site. Le Marche in Delhi NCR also had its official website offline as of September 19, 2026. Modern Bazaar has also been reported to be closing stores and shifting to a smaller format.
If you use an old article's list as your list of business contacts as-is, you'll end up reaching out to counterparts that no longer exist. Check whether a store is actually operating before visiting or starting business talks. India market visit tour covers this.
Trading with modern trade is summarized in annual trading terms (called Terms of Trade, or Joint Business Plan depending on the chain). This includes items such as the following.
Unlike dealing with kirana stores, these terms are put in writing. That also means that once you sign without reading it, it's hard to change later.
What hits hardest at the entry point to modern trade is the listing fee (also called a slotting fee). You pay this to the chain in exchange for opening a new product code and being allocated limited shelf space. It may be settled as a deduction from invoices or folded into the annual trading terms.
What matters is that the amount is fixed before any sales happen. Since it's charged per item, bringing in many flavor or size variants inflates the upfront cost accordingly. It's safer to start by narrowing down the number of items.
That said, treatment varies by chain. There are reports of models like DMart's, which does not charge a listing fee and instead lowers the wholesale price in exchange for an extremely short payment cycle. Don't assume a single premise applies everywhere; ask each counterpart about their terms.
Because delivery destinations are consolidated, logistics become easier to organize. On the other hand, the entry cost is not proportional to sales scale, so the burden per item is heavier for smaller brands. This is the big difference from kirana.
Bringing your product straight to a major chain gets stalled by questions about supply volume. Here is the order things actually move in.
| Step | What to do | Where things tend to stall |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Buyer contact | Meet the buyer in charge of the category | The point of contact is split by product category |
| 2. Determining the importer | Decide who will be the importer of record in India | Until this is settled, you can't move on to discussing trading terms |
| 3. Terms presented | Receive the margin, promotional cost, payment terms, and listing fee proposals | Have them broken out item by item |
| 4. Product registration | Open a product code and register catalog information | An English specification sheet and draft label are needed |
| 5. Deciding which stores carry it | Decide how many stores, and which ones | An all-store rollout may be a condition |
| 6. First delivery | Deliver to a distribution center or to the stores | Confirm the delivery destination and delivery terms |
| 7. Performance review | Judge whether to continue or delist based on sell-through | Ask in advance how long the review period will be |
In practice, many deals stall at steps 2 and 3. If you start without deciding who bears the cost of discounts, your take-home shrinks every time there's a promotion. The time from delivery to payment is also something to confirm at the stage of deciding the importer.
If a store has a section for imported food, the discussion starts from "will they carry it or not." Since there's no need to create a new category, things move faster. Still, there are premises to confirm.
It's tempting to think "fewer stores means I can keep the initial import volume small," but an all-store rollout can be a condition. Ask about the launch unit first.
For which malls in the Delhi metropolitan area carry which stores, see Which malls in India are UNIQLO and MUJI in?. Premium-tier stores are often located inside these malls, so you can see many of them at once on a site visit.
Going into business talks without these six items in place often means you can't get into the details of terms. Sorting out the terms for each product is handled in Import and licensing support.
Major chains have also started using their stores as delivery hubs. In its April-June 2026 earnings call, Reliance Retail explained that JioMart covers about 5,500 PIN codes, delivering groceries within 30 minutes and other categories within 2 hours. According to the official materials, the 2-hour delivery is achieved by connecting more than 2,500 stores.
Once a store doubles as a delivery hub, fast-turning products get priority. Slow-selling imported goods end up delisted and stuck in inventory at the same time. That's exactly why it's safer to check "where will it actually turn over" before choosing where to place it first. For how to gauge reaction with tasting events and test sales, see Tasting and other events covers this.
Get the order wrong, and you can win the shelf space but still lose money on the deal. Feel free to start by discussing where to begin.
If it's a premium gourmet supermarket with a section for imported food, it's in the running for business talks. Nature's Basket and Reliance's Freshpik fall into this tier. Discount formats like DMart are centered on value pricing, so they don't fit well with the unit price of imported goods. Note that Foodhall, often introduced in Japanese-language articles, has stopped operating, and Le Marche also had its official website offline as of September 2026. Check whether a store is actually operating before deciding who to approach.
It's a fee paid upfront to the chain to get a new product onto the shelf. It's also called a slotting fee. It's positioned as the cost of opening a product code, confirming quality standards, registering it in the system, and being allocated limited shelf space, and it arises before any sales happen. Since it's charged per item, the standard approach is to narrow the number of items at first.
It depends on the product and the stage. Modern trade has consolidated delivery destinations, making logistics easier to organize, and terms are put in writing. On the other hand, the entry cost isn't proportional to sales scale, so the burden per item is heavier for smaller brands. Kirana has no entry cost, but requires passing through multiple layers of wholesalers.
There's a supply-volume wall. Chains with nationwide stores tend to negotiate on the premise of supplying the whole country or an entire region, so a proposal like "we'd like to test with 10 stores first" may not fly. Confirm before business talks whether you can commit to that volume from Japan.
Margin, the burden of promotional support, the listing fee, shelf-space arrangements, payment terms, and the handling of returns and defective goods. In Indian practice these are called Terms of Trade, or Joint Business Plan depending on the chain. Who bears the cost of discounts matters especially, and if this isn't decided upfront, your take-home shrinks every time there's a promotion.
Six things: an English product specification sheet and ingredient list, a draft label that meets India's labeling standards, a proposed MRP and each party's cut, the minimum order lot and units per case, the shelf-life design and shipping plan, and who will be the importer. Without these in place, you can't get into the details of terms at the table.
At the time of customs clearance in India, at least 60% of the shelf life must remain, or at least 3 months until expiry, whichever is shorter. The "60%" figure is often the only one mentioned, but for products with a long shelf life, the more lenient 3-month condition applies. Given that sea freight takes 4-6 weeks, work backward from that when designing shelf life on the Japan side.
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