The global consultancy firm PricewaterhouseCoopers is foraying into custom-made software and IT implementation services to tap the booming organised retail industry in India.
PwC, which is a leading player in the consultancy services and the custom-made IT implementation services globally with tie-ups with world's top retail organisations, is believed to be in talks with five leading retail houses in the country to sign long-term contracts for specialised IT service projects.
Industry sources said leading retail groups, including Reliance Retail, Bharti, are already in discussions with PwC for the custom-made software applications.
But it could not be confirmed as the companies declined to comment. PwC said the company cannot reveal the identity of its clients.
"PwC's entry into this specialised retail services signifies the emergence of a global retail culture in the country. India is one of the most exciting growth markets for retail and consumer companies globally, given its attractive demographics, economic growth and liberalised policies," say industry analysts.
Ambarish Dasgupta, executive director, PwC, said the retail organisations are looking for various technology solutions, including the management of customer interface in the stores like hypermarkets and supermarkets, pricing, linkage of inventory movement, accounting, store management from back-end to the entire front-end activities, supply chain management and absolute planning of continues stock movements to various store locations, promotions, asset tracking, transactional analysis, among others.
"We wanted to explore the opportunities in the booming retail scenario in India too," he said.
PwC has a dedicated technology team specialising on different industry sectors. Organised retail sector is one of the new specialised services that the company has created now. PwC has an IT division comprising about 1000 people in India.
PwC is currently offering advisory services also to retail industry. "Our specialists understand the unique trends in the countries they operate in and have time and again proved their ability to come up with the right solution that has helped clients overcome the challenges.
"We offers customised solutions designed to meet the requirements of client's changing business landscape, addressing a wide range of industry-based strategic and operational issues.
"The dedicated industry experts help clients extract value from their multinational operations, develop a competitive advantage across the value chain and ensure all corporate stakeholder expectations are recognised," said a senior executive from PwC India.
