Media Release
New Delhi, Oct 11: WASME seminar on 'FDI in Retail: Challenges for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises', concluded with a call for arriving at a comprehensive trade policy to regulate domestic trade sector and treating small retailers on par with Micro, Small and Medium enterprises (MSMEs).
The World Association for Small and Medium Enterprises’ (WASME) seminar, held recently in Noida, sector 6, at Hotel Royale Park, was attended by academia and industry representatives. The seminar was organized in the backdrop of Government of India’s plan to permit 51 percent foreign direct investment (FDI) in the multi-brand retailing.
The seminar concluded that absence of a comprehensive retail trade policy makes the entire retail operations direction-less and also provides less chance to these MSM retail enterprises to fight for their interests. Though policies/ laws exist, they are on different aspects and are administered by different agencies/authorities. Hence, the seminar advocated a comprehensive policy that would not only help them grow on a sustained basis but also would help Government to address their issues more effectively.
Also, the seminar highlighted the need for an official definition for retail trade enterprises and according them a status of MSMEs; need for building up a proper data base of retail enterprises; scope for linkages with large chains/retail stores; and more importantly putting in place an effective regulatory mechanism to preserve the interest MSM retailers.
The distinguished Panelists, Pankaj Priya, Chairperson, Centre for retail, Birla Institute of Management and Technology (BIMTECH), NOIDA; Dr Arpita Mukherjee, Prof, ICRIER; Dharmendra Kumar, Director, India FDI Watch and Praveen Khandelwal, National Secretary General, Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) made detailed presentations on different issues having bearing on the domestic trade sector such as impact on livelihood and SMEs, required policy framework to take care of MSMEs’ interest and viewpoint of trade enterprises on entry of multinational corporate houses. V N Prasad, Senior Economic Advisor (Consulting), WASME moderated the discussions.
In his Keynote Address, president of WASME B U Girei of Nigeria called upon governments to treat SME retail trade enterprises on par with other SMEs and accord them industry status. He observed that though they contribute substantially to GDP, and employ large number of workers, next to agriculture, is still not given the status of MSMEs in many developing and emerging economies. Any impact on these enterprises implies that a major chunk of population will be affected!
In his remarks, Gyan Prakash Agarwal, secretary general, WASME, highlighted the relevance of small retail sector to the general economy, both in terms of employment generation and contribution to GDP. Importance of the retail sector lies in the fact that, as an economic activity, it provides income and employment opportunities for unemployed, pensioners, women, disabled and any other weaker sections. Besides, they also promote lesser known products/brands by providing space to them on their shelves and the process encourages entrepreneurship. He observed that policy framework governing market economy should promote inclusive globalization.
Others who spoke on the occasion were Richard Frege, Second Counsellor Namibia High Commission, New Delhi, who provided an overview of the status of SME service enterprises in Namibia in the context competition faced from global retail chains, Dr Gurendra Nath Bhardwaj of NIIT University, Jaipur, Sushil Kumar Jain, district president, UP Udhyog Vyapar Pratinidhi Mandal and Prof. Sanjay K Jain, Professor of International Business, Delhi School of Economics. Sushil Kumar Jain shared his personal experience of how small trade enterprises are impacted with the entry of large corporate retail chains. Dr P Koshy, senior economist, WASME and Sidhartha Mishra, executive secretary, WASME also spoke on the occasion.
The seminar was sponsored by CA Cooperative Thrift and Credit Society Ltd and Radius Synergies Pvt Ltd.