The Indian Institute of Management, Indore (IIM-Indore) and Retailer Association of India signed a memorandum of understanding on Saturday to set up a Centre for Retail Education and Management (Cream) at the institute to train quality manpower for the rapidly growing sector.
The MoU was inked by IIM-Indore Director S P Parashar and the Association CEO Gibson Vedamani.
The centre will be a source of research, training, consulting and executive education programmes for the retailers in India.
Speaking on the occasion, Parashar said a revolution was taking place in the retail industry and it will be successful only when it is backed up by a trained quality manpower.
Vedamani said there was a need for 2.5-million strong manpower in the retail industry.
He said the apprehension that small retailers would be wiped out due to the growing competition is not based on real assessment as there is enough scope for all types of retail formats to co-exist in India.
The institute plans to launch the long duration programme on retail management in September.
