After years of having to import food to feed its 1 billion-plus people, India has become a net exporter of food. But millions of Indians still do not have access to affordable, nutritious food because of the country's poor infrastructure and lack of cold storage.

To help food retailers and manufacturers in India learn the nuts and bolts of distributing food products and running modern supermarkets, two food marketing experts in Cornell's Food Industry Management Program presented a five-day executive development program in India, Jan. 28-Feb. 1.

"India's economy is one of the world's largest and one of the fastest growing, a rare combination," said Edward McLaughlin, the Robert J. Tobin Professor of Marketing, who co-taught most of the program's content with Rod Hawkes, senior extension associate. Both are affiliated with the Food Industry Management program in Cornell's Department of Applied Economics and Management. "Even though there has been rapid development of modern food distribution and retailing facilities in the past few years, still only less than 5 percent of food consumed in India is sold through modern retail stores."

The program, conducted under the umbrella of Cornell-in-India, a universitywide initiative to promote a broad spectrum of activities in India, included presentations as well as interactive seminars and simulations. Topics included trends in the global food industry and the implications for India's rapidly developing food industry; expansion strategies; financial, inventory and labor management in supermarket operations; forecasting; product ordering and cost control in the supply chain; and introducing new products into the supermarket channel.

"The program attracted 29 participants, primarily from India but also representing Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, the Philippines and Singapore, who are all senior-level executives representing many of the leading food retailers in South Asia and some of the major food manufacturers," said Hawkes. "For many participants this was the first opportunity to get high-level training focused specifically on the food distribution and retailing industry."

Collaborating on the program, each presenting a seminar on the Indian perspective on critical issues, were K. Vijayaraghavan, founder and CEO of Sathguru Management Consultants, Cornell's in-country partner for India programming, and his colleague Amurt Betole.

The program's enthusiastic evaluations have encouraged Cornell and Sathguru to begin planning another program, tentatively scheduled for February 2009.