This refers to the editorial "Begin with retail" (May 26). The retail sector is one of the largest providers of livelihood to the people. This includes millions of small grocery and daily goods shops across the county. Online retailing has not only affected the margins of big retail chains, it has also made inroads into the online sale of grocery, medicine and so on. Online retailers - supported by foreign funds - are capable of providing huge discounts to customers, thus moving the customer away from traditional retail. There is a virtual price war on online sites for capturing the maximum share, which seems to be unsustainable in the long-run.
It is the responsibility of the government to ensure that this price war does not cross the unsustainable level. At the same time, some mechanism needs to be devised to maintain a level playing field between online and offline retailers.
Badal Jain Jalgaon
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