Fearing that entry of foreign retail giants will create joblessness, the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Industry has recommended the formation of a ‘Retail Regulatory Authority’ to not only monitor the entry of foreign chains through foreign direct investment (FDI), but also to assess the impact of FDI on medium, small and micro enterprises (MSME).
As per the DMK leader Tiruchi Siva and Chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Industry, if multi-brand retail chains are not regulated well, it will impact medium, small and micro enterprises (MSMEs), farmers and domestic mandis. Siva further stated that the multi-brand chains should be regulated, so that customers are not cheated and farmers are not under-paid for their produce.
Meanwhile, the panel also found the condition of self-certification in respect of 30% sourcing norm unsupportive to the MSME sector and urged the government that an auditor should specifically certify the declaration. While allowing 51% FDI in multi-brand retailing, the government made it mandatory for at least 30% of the value of manufactured or processed products to be sourced from small industries.
Further, the panel also suggested the MSME ministry to commission a survey to assess the benefit and losses of previous FDI policies on the MSME sector, to ascertain if they have created any back-end infrastructure, imparted skills to domestic manpower or upgraded managerial skills, as is being envisaged in the current FDI policy.
Ironically, no multi-national company has approached the government to set up stores in India, since the approval of 51 percent FDI in multi-brand retailing in September.
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