India among top five consumer markets in Asia: Report

New Delhi: India is among the top five consumer markets in Asia offering retailers consumer spending growth of an average of 6.1 percent over the next five years, says a report.

According to BMI Research, a Fitch group company, China, Sri Lanka, Vietnam, India and Indonesia represent five favourite consumer markets in Asia, offering retailers the strongest consumer spending growth over its forecast period to 2021.

"Consumer spending in India will maintain strong levels of growth through to 2021, as the country's positive economic outlook continues," BMI Research said adding real consumer spending growth is expected to see an average of 6.1 percent over this five-year period, with 2017 coming in at 6.2 percent.

Some of the key factors responsible for increase in consumer spending include, increasing access to consumer credit, lower inflation, and a more favourable regulatory environment for foreign-owned retailers bodes well for India's consumer sectors over the coming years.

The report further said India has a thriving e-commerce segment, with online retail sales expected to continue growing at double-digit rates over our forecast period.

"Due to limitations on the activity that overseas retailers are allowed to undertake, e-commerce has so far been dominated by local firms such as Flipkart and Snapdeal.

"However, Amazon is making a real push into the market and recently announced USD 500 mn investment to roll-out online food retailing in India. Bricks-and-mortar retailers are also beginning to enter the e/m-commerce segment, due to the high mobile penetration in the country," it added.