CAIT writes to Modi on a separate ministry for retail sector

Traders body CAIT today sought Prime Minister Narendra Modi's intervention in formulating a national trade policy for the retail sector and setting up a separate ministry of internal trade.
In a communication to the Prime Minister, Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) said that except retail all other sectors like small industries, farmers and labourers have a separate policy and a ministry.
"...Retail trade (which is) being conducted by 5.77 crore business enterprises in non-corporate sector, providing employment to 46 crore and contributing 45 per cent to national GDP has been grossly neglected post independence and has neither a policy nor a separate ministry," CAIT said in a statement.

In absence of a trade policy, it said, different verticals by circumventing the laws and rules, are encroaching upon the businesses of other verticals thereby creating an overlap, and the worst sufferer are small businesses due to their limited resources.
"The overlapping by one vertical on another has created an uneven level playing field much to the disadvantage of small businesses," it added.
CAIT also suggested that a special working group comprising of senior officials and stakeholders may be formed to do a study of the retail trade, its bottlenecks, prospects of growth and remedial measures.