RAI seeks announcement of National Retail Policy in Budget
By IANS |
Published on
Fri, Jan 15 2021 13:42 IST |
0 Views MSMEs should adopt new digital solution for growth (photo:Pixabay). Image Source: IANS News
New Delhi, Jan 15 : The Retailers Association of India (RAI) has recommended the government to announce the National Retail policy and allow retailers to register as MSME in the upcoming Union Budget.
In a statement, RAI noted that the the Indian retail sector was one of the worst impacted due to the pandemic and all efforts are required to boost the local economy and help revive the retail, saving millions of jobs.
National Retail Policy: Allow retailers to be registered as MSME, RAI asks Centre
RAI in its pre-budget representation mentioned that Centre needs to put some efforts to boost the retail industry to save millions of jobs in the upcoming budget.
Representative image
The Retailers Association of India (RAI) requested the Union government on January 15 to accelerate the formulation of the National Retail Policy. Apart from this, the retail industry body also urged the Centre to allow retailers to be registered as micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) to avail benefits.
RAI, in its pre-budget representation, has mentioned that the Centre needs to put some efforts to boost the retail industry to save millions of jobs in the upcoming budget.
As the coronavirus vaccine rolls out, though more slowly than hoped for, to millions across the country, store owners are hoping it s a shot in the arm for their businesses too.
With their retail establishments closed for several months in 2020, and then restricted on capacity once reopened, and with much of the public still reluctant to come out and shop, owners are more than happy to put last year in the rearview.
But the future is also far from a sure thing as so many retailers hope the vaccine gives consumers the confidence to come out again and help shop owners recover from losses suffered amid the pandemic.
Dive Brief:
As the average cost of organized retail crime grows, 52% of retailer respondents said their company is setting aside more tech resources to address risks, according to a December report from the National Retail Federation. Just over a third (36%) said they are increasing their loss prevention budget.
When asked whether their company has seen boosters returning stolen merchandise for store credit or gift cards and then selling the credit or gift cards on the secondary market, 59% of respondents said they had seen this occurring on websites, an uptick from 51% in 2019 and 50% in 2018.
NRF also found that organized retail crime costs retailers $719,548 per $1 billion in sales on average, an increase from $703,320 in 2019. In response, a third of respondents have changed their return policies, 29% have changed their point-of-sale policies and 20% have updated their trespass policies, per the report.