Over 3,000 rules for retail sector to follow, 37% bring risk of jail time

These requirements include maintenance of records, returns, and filings under the Payment of Bonus Act, 1965; Minimum Wages Act, 1948, Employees' State Insurance Act, 1948, among others

The retail sector in India is required to follow more than 3,000 rules in order to be compliant with government regulations, according to a recent report released by TeamLease Regtech. 

The report titled 'Simplifying Compliance Management for the Retail Industry' looks into the challenges faced by the retail sector, especially when operating as an organised business.

The report provides insights into compliance-related complexities and challenges faced by entrepreneurs and employers in the retail sector. The report assumes significance since the government has reiterated the success of its ease of doing business initiatives. 

The retail industry contributes more than $1.3 trillion which is equal to 10 per cent of the national GDP. Additionally, the retail sector employs more than 35 million people which is equivalent to 8 per cent of the total workforce. However, the retail sector in the country remains largely unorganised and only 12 per cent of the sector is organised, the report said.

Fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG), apparel, footwear, and consumer electronics continue to dominate the retail segments. These segments constitute 65, 10, and 9 per cent of the retail sector respectively. The TeamLease report talks studies more than 3,000 compliance requirements to turn retail businesses into organised sector of the economy.

These requirements include maintenance of records, returns, and filings under the Payment of Bonus Act, 1965; Minimum Wages Act, 1948, Employees' State Insurance Act, 1948; Contract Labour (Regulation and Abolition) Act, 1970 and Bureau of Indian Standards Act, 2016 among others.

Elaborating on the report, the CEO and Co-Founder of TeamLease Regtech said, "India’s retail industry is a major sector of the economy that is going to be critical in the nation’s quest to breach the $10 trillion GDP mark by the end of the decade. Household consumption has already crossed $1.75 trillion, and we now rank third in the world in Purchasing Power Parity (PPP). The coming years will see explosive growth in the number of high-income and middle-income households, which will further drive consumption. In terms of retail consumption, the shoppers in tier 2 and tier 3 cities have overtaken the metropolitan cities."