Advocating planned retail growth in the urban and rural sectors in India, Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT), in a note to Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh, has asked for a national trade policy for retail trade in India.
Confirming it to Indiaretailing, Praveen Khandelwal, secretary general, CAIT, said, “The formation of a national retail policy has been our demand for long. Now it has been corroborated by the Economic Census, which shows that retail trade is one of the largest sectors of employment in the country and is growing very fast, but in an unplanned manner.”
Khandelwal voted for separate parameters for planned growth of urban and rural areas. “The ground realities and challenges of rural and urban retail are different and need different approaches,” he added.
The organisation has also advocated the need to modernise the country’s traditional retailers. “In our note to the prime minister, we have pointed out the need to modernise the traditional kirana stores, so that thousands of such traditional retailers are not left behind,” informed Khandelwal.
Suggesting measures to help local retailers, Khandelwal said: “The government should hold workshops and seminars for the traditional retailers and provide them with requisite financial support, so that they can upgrade themselves.”
– Raja Ghoshal
