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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | FDI in retail can enrich 650 million Indians for inclusive growth

FDI in retail can enrich 650 million Indians for inclusive growth

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published Published on Nov 30, 2011   modified Modified on Nov 30, 2011

-The Economic Times

The entire political opposition to allowing overseas investment in retail is focused on the assumed plight of traders and small merchants in India. How about consumers, who outnumber sellers by many multiples? And what about farmers, the bulk of India's population? The idea of organised retail is to get quality stuff to buyers at reasonable prices. To do that, retailers employ technology, storage and logistics to cut overhead costs, run lean inventories and minimise waste. 

If small businesses can't keep up, they deserve to fold; experience, however, shows that indigenous businesses can hold their own against foreign brands. McDonald's has had to adopt local ways, making aloo tikkiburgers and offering free home delivery. Rivals like Haldiram's have not only held their own, but prospered at the same time. Despite its size and growth, India's retail sector is messy, unorganised and goes largely untaxed. In China, for example, organised retail comprises around 25% of total retail; despite the profusion of malls, India's share is a paltry 6.5%. It can rise without mass extinction of traders. 

The most important item in the debate is the impact that big investments and new technologies will make on one vital sector: food and groceries. These are largely products from the farm, where productivity is dismal and the pressure of population high. Food and grocery make up 67% of India's retail sales, but only 2% of this market is organised. Companies like Walmart know this and it is no surprise that the US giant has set itself a target of increasing farm incomes by 20% each year from the time it enters the market. It hopes to have a network of 35,000 farmers supplying fresh veggies and grains to it by 2015. 

This is necessary to break the monopoly of the mandi bosses who now suppress farmers' prices to drive up the incomes of traders. If organised retail can eliminate the middlemen in the farm-to-fork chain, it will boost the incomes of quite a few other Indians - about 650 million, who depend on farming for a living. That is no small gain. Steadily-growing farm incomes and productivity can revolutionise India, raise health, education and environmental standards, and make growth truly inclusive.


The Economic Times, 30 November, 2011, http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/opinion/editorial/fdi-in-retail-can-enrich-650-million-indians-for-inclusive-growth/articleshow/10926390.cms


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