Retail needs separate trade policy, CAIT Tells PM

13 Jun '16

3 min read

The Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) has reiterated its demand for a national trade policy for retail trade and a separate ministry of internal trade

In a communication to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the traders' body also suggested that foreign trade should be transferred to Ministry of External Affairs and Ministry of Commerce should be designated to look after and monitor domestic trade.

In a press release, CAIT said there is no policy nor any separate ministry for retail trade in India whereas other sectors of economy like agriculture, industry, transport, consumers, and labour, have designated ministries with independent policies. Holding earlier governments responsible for “this discrimination” towards the retail sector, it appealed to the Prime Minister on Monday to constitute a ministry for internal trade and a national trade policy for retail.

“Such a step will certainly usher structured growth of retail trade in India and will accelerate the economy and GDP which seems to be under rated”, CAIT National President B.C.Bhartia and Secretary General Praveen Khandelwal said in the press release calling for appropriate directions to the NITI Aayog for formulating the policy on retail trade

Terming the MUDRA Yojna (Micro Units Development and Refinance Agency) announced in the budget this year as a landmark initiative taken by any government since independence for inclusion of small businesses, the CAIT also called for making MUDRA , an independent regulatory body.

It also urged the PM to initiate necessary steps to draft a law for making MUDRA an independent regulator and bringing non banking finance companies (NBFCs), micro finance institutions, Trust & Societies under the ambit of MUDRA so that lending to the last mile borrower may be made through them. “In fact, each bazaar in the country should have a MUDRA franchise to grant benefits of this “great” initiative, the CAIT release said.

Drawing attention to the “promising future” of e-commerce,” CAIT also called for formulation of a law for domestic e commerce. In the absence of any regulations and guidelines, CAIT release alleged that companies involved in e commerce “are indulging in deep discounting, predatory pricing and adopting unhealthy business practices thereby creating an uneven field much to the disadvantage of small businesses.

“E-commerce companies in India may be placed under the domain of either Ministry of Commerce or Ministry of Consumer Affairs and they (the ministries) may be directed to frame specified law for domestic e commerce business in the country,” the release said.

In line with the Prime Minister's vision of a cashless society, the CAIT suggested that a mass national campaign be formulated by the government (Department of Electronics under the Ministry of communication) for encouraging digital payments across the country. This it said “will put curbs on shadow economy and restrain black money.” The Confederation in association with MasterCard and HDFC Bank already launched such a campaign last year. (SH)

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