Mr. Biraj shared that FMCG companies today are staring at a major disruption in their distribution model. Other than some basic technology very little changed over the decades. The primary reason for the lack of change is the more or less static retail environment we have seen –close to 90% of retail even today is dominated by General Trader in India, this was as high as 98% till a decade or so ago.

Mr. Patro emphasized that wider adoption of technology to track inventory & sales through the implementation of DMS and SFA. Launch and rapid growth of Modern Trade (MT) from 2000 onwards, followed by e- commerce in the last five years.

Mr. Patro has shared FMCG companies outsourcing their Sales Reps to third parties to reduce complexity for GT coverage. GST roll out in 2018, which for the first time allowed manufacturers to view India as ‘One Market’ and adapt their distribution networks accordingly.

 Mr. Biraj explained MT’s growing strength of distributing to the GT channel is likely to also allow them to sell more of their private label products through that channel, directly competing with established FMCG brands and creating a bigger fight for shelf space in GT.

 He concluded that even though this all may seem disruptive, it is likely to emerge as the most efficient model in the coming years, where disaggregation will lead to “disowning” a large of the distribution network, and lead to partnering with regional and national players to enable the most efficient and lowest ‘cost to serve’ distribution model for FMCG brands across all channels.

 During his discussion, he shared his diverse experience with students. At the end of the corporate lecture, a special vote of thanks was given to him.