new delhi growth of ecommerce in the grocery segment is irreversible but kirana stores and modern trade channels would also remain relevant hindustan unilever cmd sanjiv mehta said on wednesdaymehta also said rural sales are growing faster than the urban markets and would sustain depending on the support provided by the governmentthe recent farm reforms are in the right direction and would result in more technology and capital for the sector he addedthe growth of the ecommerce is clearly irreversible but the way i look at india general trade modern trade ecommerce will coexist and india is not a country where the general trade would disappear lets be absolutely clear about that said mehta advt he was speaking at a panel discussion at massmerize 2020 a conference organised by industry body ficcithe share of general trade which includes small shops and kirana stores may come down but it would be a fatal mistake to write its obituary mehta emphasisedno it is not going to happen and even after 10 years the biggest channel would be general trade he saidmehta who is also the vice president of ficci and chairs the ficci fmcg committee said indian general trade is unique in many ways and the cost of distribution is on its sidethe cost of distribution in the grocery channels is absolutely fineduring this period we have seen the benefit of proximity people have gravitated to the nearby grocery shops because of the sheer convenience he pointed outhowever he added that general trade would also be digitised and connectedtalking about modern trade he said that after two decades it has now firmly established itselfhe agreed with metro cash carry india managing director and ceo arvind mediratta who earlier at the event said people go to modern trade outlets like malls and hypermarkets for the sheer experienceas modern trade goes to tier ii and iii cities it is going to fillip in those cities and omni channel is going to be a bigger part of modern trade channels for the sheer convenience and benefits mehta addedechoing his views hershey india managing director herjit s bhalla who was moderating the session said general trade is going to stay and it is also adopting modern techniques advt general trade is going to stay and its not going anywhere if we actually look back at it there is lot of ecom kind of behaviour by general trade as they are delivering on a phone call and talks to you he saideven during the peak of the lockdown it was general trade which emerged as the saviour for people due to its proximity he addedpg india subcontinent ceo and md madhusudan gopalan said the online segments share is going to increasethere is going to be work to be done both on the part of the online retailers and also on part of brands if you want to keep this trajectory growing he addedon rural sales mehta said the runway to grow in rural india is massiverural