Retail will usher in new revolution in rural India: Nath

New Delhi, Jan 9 (UNI) Union Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath today said the retail sector in India would usher in a new revolution in rural India and apart from generating about 15 million jobs in the country would benefit farmers due to direct access of retailers to farm produce.

Terming retail as a sunrise sector, Mr Nath said the organised retail sector was expected to generate 10 to 15 million jobs over the next five years, and that the value of the organised retail sector in India by 2010 would be around Rs 2,00,000 crore or 45 billion dollars.

He was speaking at a function where he released the India Retail report 2007 and launched the portal www.indiaretailing.com here.

Dr Ashwani Kumar, Minister of State for Industry and Dr Ajay Dua, Secretary (Industrial Policy and Promotion), Ministry of Commerce and Industry, were present at the high-powered industry and media meet marking the release of the report.

Stating that the retail sector in India is undergoing a revolution, Mr Nath said the phenomenal increase was stemming from the growing purchasing power of the people, which had led to a significant growth in the demand for a variety of goods, both consumables and durables.

Apart from consumers, farmers would also benefit from the retail expansion, he said, citing the examples of several states which were allowing retailers direct access to farm produce, introducing a new revolution in rural India.

"After centuries of economic exploitation, they are today dealing directly with companies without the involvement of middlemen or intermediaries." Organised retailing was thus set to boost infrastructure growth and create efficient backward linkages.

In the process, the sector will also create efficiencies, reducing marketing cost, wastages and redundancies, he said.

According to the report, organised retail in India has the potential to generate some 2.5 million direct jobs through retail operation and over at least 10 million additional jobs in retail support activities including contract production and processing, supply chain and logistics, retail real estate development and management.

In India, the retail sector is poised at the threshhold as it traversed the small kirana store to the big malls. "The big challenge that lies before it is of integration into the unorganised sector not merely in urban but rural areas," he told the gathering.

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