CII Says Retail FDI to Benefit All Stakeholders

Tuesday, 29 November 2011, 19:04 IST
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Bangalore: Foreign direct investment (FDI) in retail will boost the organised retail sector and will be beneficial for all stakeholders and overall economy, Confederation of India Industry (CII) said.

"The organised retail sector will be positively impacted by FDI in multi-brand retail, which will provide great opportunities for all stakeholders, including producers, workers, employees and consumers.

Its a virtuous decision taken by Government looking at the larger picture," CII Retail Committee head and CEO of Aditya Birla Retail Thomas Verghese said here.

It will be an opportunity for farmers to do away with intermediaries that will help increase their price realisation by 10-30 percent through direct sourcing, which will help them increase their yield and produce, he said.

The SME sector will also benefit by improving their manufacturing practises which will help in increasing production, Verghese said. However, this growth in modern retail is not at the cost of small kirana stores, he maintained.

"I don't think there is any threat to small kirana shops. I can tell that a lot of these concerns are misplaced. We have seen in the last five years that not a single kirana store has ever shut down." Rupa Mehta, Chairperson, CII (WR) family business task -force and Director Rupam Conductors said, Indian SMEs are world class and are backbone of the country.

"We don't think there is any threat and we are well equipped to handle this. The international players may want a bit of modernisation and we can handle it as well," she said.


Source: PTI