Budget 2018: From FDI to unified market, challenges ahead for retail sector

Budget 2018-19 Live

Key challenges

Multiplicity of laws & regulations governing the sector

Lack of industry status for retail

Lack of clarity and understanding of regulations/guidelines governing online retail trading leading to ambiguities and hurdles for the e-commerce sector

Lack of access to organised funding, especially to small retailers

What industry wants

National Retail Policy: A single retail policy will help streamline various laws and regulations affecting the retail sector

Unified National Market: To be globally competitive, India needs to adopt a ‘unified market’ approach to the retail sector – minimise licences required and establish a system of single-window clearance. The game-changing GST will help

Rationalisation of FDI: While the government has given the necessary push to ‘Make in India’ in food retail, it would help if non-food ‘Make in India’ retail category can also witness a liberalised FDI policy

SBRT and MBRT: The SBRT and MBRT frameworks need to be defined in the FDI policy. Divisions could be on the basis of nature or formats of retail

Industry status: This will improve access to funding to MSME retailers, especially amid high pressure with growing competition from organised retail and e-commerce

PwC POINT OF VIEW

Akash Gupt, partner and leader regulatory services, PwC India

We look forward to a national policy for retail to complement growth of various channels

It will provide the right stimulus to both domestic and foreign investments in the sector.

A conducive regulatory environment for offline and online retailers will help build ‘New India’, benefiting consumers, industry and economy at large

J Suresh, MD & CEO, Arvind Lifestyle BrandsJ SureshIndustry voice

After the GST, the key support for the retail sector will come from policies that stimulate consumption. For example, a reduction in direct taxes will increase disposable income and lead to more consumption

Incentives for investment will encourage both industry and generate jobs. A big push on infra investment will help push job growth and consumption

Before Union Budget 2018-19, Business Standard looks at the key sectors of the economy and what they expect Finance Minister Arun Jaitley to do to improve their business in the coming financial year Comprehensive coverage of Union Budget 2018-19: http://www.business-standard.com/budget

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