Comments
Retailers Association of India has emphasised the need for a national policy on trade for retail.
“Retail business has been growing and is estimated at over $560 billion. But a policy for retail is still not in place. It (retail) is still under the Shop and Establishment Act,” lamented the association's Chief Executive Officer Kumar Rajagopalan.
While stating that certain states such as Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana , Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh evinced interest for creating a Retail Policy, the other States should also chip in, in the larger interest of the trade. “We are looking at a State Level Policy on Retail”, he said.
Kumar Rajagopalan was in the city for the Coimbatore Retail Summit 2015 at Taj Vivanta this morning.
Asked what the association sought in such a policy, he said “it should address the retail space (business). Today, there is no single window clearance for those wanting to start a retail establishment. They will have to get 50 different clearances such as for power, shop floor, business license etc, will have multiple check points and taxes. A nodal ministry and some nodal officers to do these checks would go a long way in conforming with the Government's mantra of ease of doing business in India.”
The association which came into existence in 2004 has only about 1,000 members till date. Rajagopalan is expecting the enrolments to surge once the GST is in place. “There are over 12 million outlets in the country; while retailers are our members, their franchisees are not,” he explained.
Online format
To a query on online retailing, T Shantakumar, Managing Director, Kirtilal Kalidas Jewellers Pvt Ltd, said that the trend is catching up and becoming a necessity at present. “Online business extends support to the traditional store format, and is expected to become lot cheaper going forward.”
Kirtilals is looking to venture into online format soon, he said. The jewellery store, according to Arun Kumar, Head (Marketing), is in the process of integrating technology and creating an app to enable its customers view its range of products online.
It would be rolled out soon, Shantakumar said.
Comments
COMMENT NOW
Comments
Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.
We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.