by nivedita jayaram pawar etretail bureau mumbai renowned british economist lord meghnand desai today urged the retail entrepreneurs in india to encourage innovation speaking at the ongoing india retail forum 2013 mumbai he said he was disappointed to see a lack of initiative on the part of large and established retailers to help revolutionize the small kirana stores i dont want to set up a class war here but the fact is that innovations that could be used by the kirana stores are not there desai said there is a need to improve the quality of ordinary small shops that most people go to i havent seen any reflection of the new retail revolution or technology in the kirana space in the uk the small shops were revolutionsed by the immigrant patel community from east africa i believe even today most people in india dont shop in the malls even in the metros major chunk of the shopping still happens in the small shops and on the streets i dont see a retail revolution on the street there is clearly a market gap some genius has to transform the kirana stores further giving his views on the potential of the indian retail industry desai said that when it comes to retailindia is not in such a bad spot but are we doing enough to ensure that the consumers of tomorrow continue to consume more it has to be growth across the whole of india and not just metros i think the metro phase is done for me whats striking there is no retail revolution down at the corner the corner shop is where most people go they have to be revolutionsedhe stressed speaking on the impact of fdi desai said it will help retail if fdi comes in it will be great however its not a foreigners privilege to innovate look at the chapatti revolution in the 1857 war of independence that was a fantastic way to pass messages from one village to another across north india he added retailers in india think all indians stay in the zindagi na milegi dobara world vacationing in spain and driving fancy cars we need to think of the 900 mln people what is the retail fraternity doing for this 900 mn people desai asked published on sep 25 2013 at 0221 pm ist telegram facebook copy link be the first one to comment comment now comments comment now read comment 1 all comments post post find this comment offensive choose your reason below and click on the submit button this will alert our moderators to take actions reasons for reporting foul language defamatory inciting hatred against a certain community out of context spam others report join the community of 2m industry professionals subscribe to our newsletter to get latest insights analysis download etretail app get realtime updates save your favourite articles scan to download app fdi retail malls meghnad desai supermarkets shopping centres homenewswhere are the innovators in the