The direct selling industry has the potential to grow almost nine times to touch Rs 64,500 crore by 2025 and is likely to provide self-employment to around 1.45 million people, says a report.  The direct selling industry in the country is currently pegged at Rs 7,500 crore. The report also said the market in Gujarat, valued at around Rs 3,000 crore, has the potential to touch Rs 5,000 crore by 2025, as the state is as the state is witnessing a rise in middle income households, coupled with growth of consumer markets. Top direct sales companies such as Glaze Trading India and others employ approximately 50 lakh people in India. This figure is expected to touch 1.8 crore by 2025, according to a joint study by industry body Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Ficci) and consulting company. Simply put, direct selling entities sell various products through a non-store retail format. The market has grown to become a key channel for distribution of goods and services in the country, especially for health and wellness products, cosmetics, consumer durables, water purifiers and vacuum cleaners.

As the government issued new guidelines for the sector in 2016, the study recommended several other reforms to ensure robust growth for direct selling firms for implementation of the guidelines at the state level. India is a thriving market for direct selling. Even without the appropriate legislation, the industry has become a billion market. The new guidelines by the government are a welcome move for the direct selling sector. It is worth mentioning here that several direct selling firms hailed the guidelines, saying the government’s move would filter out fraudulent players and aid serious companies to grow.

Multi-level marketing (MLM) is a much-debated sales channel in India. While with large-scale unemployed youth at one end and a huge aspiration for adding a multiplier effect to income for the employed middle class, the network marketing promises to have a huge growth opportunity. But it needs to be making things clearer for the people. A regulation to preserve the end user rights like a refund for dissatisfied consumers, clarity on the efficacy of products and services etc. is going to help the area grow without prejudice and good multi-level marketing companies follow this practice.  Direct Selling is popular because of unique products are being offered to consumers at their doorstep. These products are normally demonstrable and the uniqueness is explained in detail in the comfort of the consumer’s home. These products are information based, and therefore the bulk of the industry is focused on unique products in not only beauty but also the wellness segment. Arguably, a boom in e-commerce and an increasing smartphone adoption have impacted the directing selling companies.

Another important development is the emergence of direct selling as a women’s bastion. Women currently constitute 53 per cent of entrepreneurs engaged in the direct selling industry in India, as per the World Federation of Direct Selling Associations (WFDSA) 2017 report. Furthermore, the industry provided entrepreneurship opportunities to 51 lakh people in 2017, of which 27 lakhs were women.