Global Retail School (GRS), a wholly owned subsidiary of Cosmo Aviation Training School, launched its operations in South India recently. GRS will offer a one year diploma programme in Retail Management, on completion of which the students will be awarded a diploma from Annamalai University and a joint certification from GRS and Bharti Resources.

The other courses include three and six months professional certificate courses in front and back end operations and management in retail industry (Retail Sales and Marketing, Retail Visual Merchandising and Space Planning, Retail Buying and Merchandise Management, Retail Supply Chain Management, Retail Management and Store Operations and Retail Customer Relationship Management).

The eligibility criterion for all the courses is a pass in 10+2. The fees for one year diploma will be Rs 50,000, for six months Rs 30,000 and for other courses above Rs 15,000 at the Bangalore centre. One batch will comprise 25 to 30 students.

The retail industry in India is booming with the entry of Reliance, ITC, Spencers, Pantaloons, Birla etc and it will create 25 lakh direct jobs by 2010 in the industry, said CEO Aditi Srivastava. These courses will produce professionals specifically trained to work in the retail industry, said Dr S B Nageshwar Rao, director, Directorate of Distant Education, Annamalai University.  

GRS has a network of 40 retail schools in India, in technical association with Annamalai University and Bharti Resources, a subsidiary of Bharti Enterprises. The module and content of all the courses are designed by Bharti Resources. Bharti Resources will have the first right to interview the students of GRS, said Ms Srivastava.
The Bangalore centre on MG Road, the first in South India, has started operating and other 10 centres in Mysore, Mangalore, Chennai, Pondicherry, Cochin, Thiruvananthapuram, Madurai, Coimbatore, Vishakhapatnam and Secunderabad will be started within three months. GRS is planning to start one more centre in Bangalore South, probably, in Banashankari, said Regional Director of GRS South India Sunil Baberwal.