CAIT welcomes DPIIT retail policy move to limit e-commerce to 20% of trade

Retail trade in India is the only sector that lacks a separate ministry or a policy, according to Bhartia and Khandelwal, who estimate that the market is worth Rs 130 lakh crore yearly and is growing at a pace of 10 percent annually.

The National Retail Trade Policy will therefore prove to be beneficial for the country's economy and trade and commerce, they said. It should be emphasised that conventional retailers, or non-corporate retail, account for approximately 80 percent of retail trade, whereas corporation retail accounts for about 10 percent, e-commerce for about 7 percent, and direct selling  3 percent.

However, Bhartia and Khandelwal said without an e-commerce policy and codified rules and regulations for e-commerce trade, the National Retail Trade Policy will prove to be a half-baked exercise that will be only partially beneficial.

The retail trade has four verticals — corporate retail, non-corporate retail, e-commerce and direct selling. Therefore, the National Retail Trade Policy should have a streamlined and thorough policy that enables all four verticals to operate together without interfering with one another, they said.