Traders demand Parliamentry committee on Corporates entry in retail

New Delhi, Jan 20 (UNI) The Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) demanded the Government to constitute a Parliamentry Committee for looking into all issues arising out of entry of corporate retailers into retail trade.

The CAIT delegations will soon meet leaders of all political parties on this issue in wake of repeated and continuos attempts of big corporate houses and MNC's to dominate independence of retail trade of India, a statement said.

Indian retail accounts for around 10 per cent of the GDP with more than 5 crore retail outlets throughout the country excluding low cost kiosks and push cart vendors.

India also has the highest density of retail outlets in the world - for 1000 persons there are 15 retail outlets in India. The overall size of retail market in India at present is estimated at Rs 15 lakh crores, in which more than 5 crores people are directly involved with 20 crores dependants on them for their livelihood.

About 3 per cent of the retail trade is in the organised sector and the balance 97 per cent is unorganised. The country's retail trade is expanding at 8 per cent to 10 per cent every year with an addition of 25 million middle class consumers. It is expected that the size of retail trade would exceed Rs 20 lakhs crores by 2010.

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