Despite being crowned as an agricultural nation, during the 1950s, 60s, 70s, and 80s India was dependent on grain imported from other nations. During the 1950s we were producing less than 50 million tonnes of food and that was not sufficient for our huge population. Then came the beginning of the Green Revolution and things improved to a large extent. But the irritating restrictions on the movement and consumption of food grains remained. Now India is sitting on the verge of another revolution that promises as breathtaking results as the Green Revolution. The phenomenon is called “Agri-Retail”. One major problem that our farmers have faced is lack of markets where they can get a good enough price for their products. They were forced to sell their products to middle men who pocketed all the profits. But that is set to change with the rise of Agri retail outlets in India’s urban areas. These retail outlets buy directly from the farmer and sell the products to urban customers, thus eliminating the need for middlemen. Statistics shows that farmers who are selling their products to organized retailers like Reliance Fresh, Subhiksha, and others get about 20% more for their products. The retailers have developed hi-tech handling mechanism to ensure that the agricultural produce purchased from the farmer is in fresh condition when it reaches the end customers in the cities. Buying agricultural products from organized retailers is getting very popular in urban areas, because the young crowd generally prefers to shop in a clean and hassle free environment. At times the products sold at these fancy outlets turn out to be cheaper than those being sold in the neighborhood Mom & Pop stores and that proves to be an added attraction for customers. But it is in areas outside the realm of agricultural products that organized retail has made its biggest impact. During the past few years there has been a definite pickup in the expansion spree of organized retail. The bigger cities are already dotted with a plethora of shopping malls that provide everything that you may need under one roof. The Big Bazaar Stores are a favorite middle class haunt. Now the focus of organized retail is turning towards the tier-II towns. According to a research paper by KSA Technopak and ICICI Property Services, tier-II towns and cities will witness major retail format developments of less than 1,00,000 sq. feet by 2006. It says that the retail boom, 85 per cent of which has so far been concentrated in the metros, will percolate to smaller cities and towns and that the contribution of these tier-II cities to total organized retailing sales will grow to 25 per cent. The booming BPO, software, and telecom industries have a lot to do with the boom in the retail sector. Young Indians, between 20 and 24 years, are finding jobs straight out of college. They have disposable income that’s totally discretionary and about 20 to 30 per cent higher than prevailing wages. Such young earners love to splurge and they the best place to spend lies within the cool ambience of the neighborhood shopping mall. In many ways the boom in retails is helping to create a new breed of consumers. Retail companies are hiring in a big way and they are offering great salaries. One of the major retail players Reliance has announced that it will be taking in close to 1 million new employees in the next five years. Where are these new employees going to buy their daily needs? Where else but from shopping malls like Reliance Fresh. Most of the world's leading brands, including like L'Oreal, Espirit, Louis Vuitton, Marks & Spencer, Tommy Hilfiger, Louis Phillipe, Levis, Pepe, Lee, Arrow, Dockers, Red Tape, Clairns, Hugo Boss, Tiffany, Bulgari, Ecco, Chambor, Revlon, Philips, Corelle, Magppie, Nike, Reebok, Parker, Ray Ban, Lego and Mattel, are now present in India. This is definitely a good time to start spending the extra cash that you may have been hoarding for all these years.