New Delhi: The Centre’s proposed retail policy seems to be stuck over, believe it or not, an uncleared bill of Rs 16 lakh.

The Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (Icrier), the think-tank mandated by the commerce and industry ministry early last year to assess the impact of large retail players on the smaller mom-n-pop stores, is believed to have produced a bill of Rs 16 lakh for conducting an additional survey on the subject.

The government wants Icrier to reduce this amount, sources said. Icrier, it seems, will not submit the report till this bill is cleared by the government.

Icrier director and chief executive Rajiv Kumar could not be contacted for comments.

The additional survey was conducted by Icrier last year because the government wanted to broadbase the study.

This was after preliminary presentations were made to the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) in the commerce and industry ministry.

The Centre is of the opinion that Rs 16 lakh is too big a price-tag for an additional survey.The government’s objective was to draw up a comprehensive retail policy from the findings of the Icrier study.

Early 2007, the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) had directed the commerce and industry ministry to get a study done on the impact of organised and big retail on the smaller, mom-n-pop stores.

The preliminary findings of the study had shown that small mom-n-pop stores have been able to adjust to the emergence of organised retail and that the impact of modern retail on smaller stores wears off with time.

Icrier was to submit its study to the government by August 2007, but it got delayed because the think-tank was asked to broad-base it after a preliminary presentation was made to the DIPP.

Icrier was also asked to find out ways in which the unorganized sector could have access to easier credit and perhaps look for alternate models of doing business, after the CPI(M) had raised these issues in its proposal on the National Retail Policy.

Among others, Reliance Industries has had to face opposition from various quarters in some states for setting up retail stores.

Even the proposed Bharti-Wal-Mart retail venture came under attack recently, as it is widely feared that organised retail may kill the neighbourhood mom-n-pop stores.

 

Source : Dna