India’s retail sector grew 8% year-on-year in July 2026, according to the Retailers Association of India’s (RAI) Business Survey Round 73, with every day, needs-based categories carrying the month. The reading comes weeks after RAI’s SANKET report, produced with payments partner Innoviti, showed genuine store-level demand recovering to 7.1% growth in July, its strongest month since the quarter began. Read together, the two data sets point to a sector building real momentum just as retailers begin preparing for the festive season.
Growth varied sharply by region in July. The North and South both posted 9% growth, the strongest in the survey, while the West and East grew more moderately at 6% each. That regional spread echoes what SANKET found at the store level — the South held up strongest of any zone through the quarter, while the West saw the sharpest swing, dropping furthest in Q1 before rebounding hardest in July.
Category-level data points to what has actually driven purchases through the month. Habit-led categories such quick service restaurants (13%) and food & grocery (12%) were the strongest performers, followed by footwear (10%) and apparel (8%).
Categories that called for more deliberation grew more slowly: furniture posted just 1% growth, the weakest in the survey, sports goods grew 4%, jewellery grew 6%, and consumer durables & electronics grew 7%.
With Q1’s softness now behind the sector and July showing recovery on both overall and store-level measures, RAI’s reading is that retailers enter the festive season from a firmer base than the one they were standing on three months ago, though the categories that will matter most this festive season i.e. big-ticket purchases are still growing well below the categories built into daily routine.
Commenting on the findings, Kumar Rajagopalan, Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer, Retailers Association of India, said, “July gave us two confirmations at once: topline growth held up, and genuine store-level demand, which had softened through the summer, came back with it. That matters heading into the festive season, because the big-ticket purchases are exactly the ones festive buying tends to unlock. The base retailers are working from this year is stronger than it was in April or May. Retailers are entering the festive season with optimism, anticipating stronger consumer demand. The job over the next few weeks is preparation i.e. inventory in place, staffing ready, and offers timed for a customer who buys on routine most of the year but saves the bigger decisions for the season that’s built for them.”
