The Retailers Association of India (RAI) has asked the Maharashtra government to allow reopening of malls in the State. The State government has given clearance to reopen hotels and tourist lodges in a limited manner.

In Maharashtra, malls were the first public places to be closed in the wake of the pandemic in March. Since then they have been shut without any respite.

On Tuesday, RAI in a tweet to the State Tourism Minister, Aaditya Thackeray, said “good to know that hotels are now allowed to open. We request you to help us reopen malls in Maharashtra. With SOPs in place, malls are functioning well in other states and these practices will be implemented here as well to ensure safety of customers and staff.”

RAI said a recent business survey of more than 100 big and small retailers has revealed that there has been no significant growth in business for retailers even during the second half of June. Retailers witnessed 67 per cent degrowth from June 15 to June 30 compared to the corresponding period last year. During the same period, malls witnessed 77 per cent degrowth on account of not being allowed to open uniformly across the country, RAI said in a statement .

With Unlock 2.0 on the cards in the next few days and several sectors opening up, the retail sector can hope for a revival of consumption and signs of recovery at least in the second quarter of the year, the statement added.

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