Mittal defends organised retail sector in India

Chennai, Jul 17 (UNI) The President of Confederation of Indian Industry(CII) Sunil Bharti Mittal today defended organised Retail in the country.

Talking to newspesons here, he said Retail Industry in the country would grow up to US Dollar 500 billion in the next decade from the existing US Dollar 300 billion, while the organised Retail would only account for US Dollar 100 billion. Hence, the unorganised sector would also witness growth," he added allaying the fears of small traders.

Mr Mittal, who is also the Chairman and CEO of Bharti Enterprises, had signed a Memorandum of Understanding(MoU) with the world's biggest retailer Wal-Mart, for joint foray into the country's booming retail sector, a few months ago.

Putting apprehensions of job loss, on account of the entry of organised retail, to rest, he averred, that the new format is creating awareness about the benefit of the organised retail sector among the farmers.

He said international evidences suggest that mom-and-pop stores (small traditional traders) do not get wiped out because of the presence of large stores.

"I feel that the organised retail sector, which is expected to provide key linkages between the farm and market, would play a significant role in pushing the growth", he said adding the key enablers in the growth would establish a link between the farmers and the markets by adopting a value chain approach.

On the issue of land acquisition for the Special Economic Zones(SEZ), Mr Mittal said the Government needs to look into it in a holistic manner.

Attractive compensation should be paid to those, who were displaced due to land acquisition", he suggested adding "government should also generate more local employment through its proposed land acquisition for SEZ.

The CII would work with the Government to ensure that farmers plight was minimised in this regard, he added.

UNI