The inaugural day also witnessed the launch of the India Retail Directory 2008, which includes a chapter on the India Food Report 2008 to be released later this month.

As per the report, in the overall retail sector, food and grocery is the dominant category with 59.5 percent share, valued at Rs.7,920 billion ($198.2 billion), followed by clothing and accessories with a 9.9 percent share at Rs.1,313 billion ($32.9 billion).

In the organised retail segment, clothing and fashion accessories is the largest category with 38.1 percent of the market share, valued at Rs.298 billion ($7.5 billion), followed by food and grocery accounting for 11.5 percent of the organised retail market at Rs.90 billion ($2.3 billion).