Traders oppose Bharti-Walmart pact, term it monopolistic

By Staff
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Google Oneindia News

New Delhi, Aug 6 (UNI) A national traders' body today opposed the Bharti-Walmart agreement on joint business operations, saying it was ''nothing but a sinister move to capture Indian retail trade and rendering large number of people jobless''.

''It is a clear case of backdoor entry of Walmart into retail trade of India,'' said Mr. Praveen Khandelwal, Secretary General of the Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) an apex body of trading community.

The CAIT in association with other bodies of trade, hawkers small scale sector, farmers, trade unions will protest the deal on August 9, as part of its observance of the Retail Democracy Day.

The cash and carry policy of the Government is limited to wholesale trade whereas the deal between Walmart and Bharti is directly related to retail trade, he said.

Mr Khandelwal also expressed fears that Walmart's entry into India would invariably be followed by the other multinational retailers like TESCO and Carrefour. They will monopolise the retail market in India and cause large scale displacement of small retailers, he added.

Ms Vandana Shiva, founder of Navdanya, a social organisation and working for farmers, said that India is in the midst of a so called retail revolution engineered by MNCs and big industrial houses that could see large number of small kirana stores replacing with a multi-billion dollar industry of air-conditioned supermarkets.

It is not just Wal-Mart that is of concern but also companies such as Reliance and Subhiksha, which are opening small stores which are in direct competition with local kirana stores, she said.

UNI

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