Chennai: The government will release the draft National Retail Policy in the next 10 days, seeking comments from the trading fraternity. The first-ever policy for retail is part of the 100-day action plan of the new government. On the e-commerce sector, the government said it would come out with the final national e-com policy within 12 months. The draft policy on this was published in February.
By coming out with the draft retail policy, the government has tried its best at all levels to understand the ground realities of retail trade, DPIIT Secretary Ramesh Abhishek, who met the retailer associations and traders, said. Accordingly, the policy is being designed to provide relief to traders from their hardships and engage them in a better way to grow their business in a structured manner.
So far, there was no singular department taking ownership for facilitating ease of doing business for retailers and address the multiple issues faced by them. The National Retail Policy will streamline the retail trade in India and is poised to provide ease of doing business. According to Abhishek, retail trade in India is about $650 billion industry and the lifeline of the economy.
Attending the meeting, the Retailers Association of India (RAI) and the Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) wanted the laws to be modified to enable ease of doing business for retailers. They suggested that the policy should eliminate the obstacles created in the name of various licences.
CAIT sought upgradation and modernisation of retail trade as almost 65 per cent of the traders have still not digitised their operations. Retail should be included in the development plan of various cities with earmarked spaces for retail/entertainment development, demanded RAI.
Traders also sought appointment of Trade Commissioner and Dis-trict Trade Advisory Com-mittee in each district.
In New Delhi, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal on Monday said the government will put in place an institutional framework to bring out a national policy on e-commerce within 12 months.
The draft released in February had proposed setting up a legal and technological framework for restrictions on cross-border data flow.
