Largest Voluntary shutdown by traders against Corporate Retailers - Mumbai - Oct 10
IFP.E...@googlemail.com
Mumbai witnessed a large gathering of traders, hawkers and workers at
historic Azad Maidan on 10th Oct, 2007 demanding corporations to quit
retail. Media covered the event widely. TV Channels including NDTV/
CNBC/Aaj Tak/Zee/Lok Sabha TV run exclusive stories on quit retail
movement. The event also appeared on google as the days top story.
The People United Shall Always Be Victorious.
In Solidarity !
Dharmendra Kumar Sharma
Director
India FDI Watch
---------------------------------
Maharashtra shuts shop as rage over retail rises - CNN-IBN
http://www.ibnlive.com/news/rage-over-retail-maharashtra-shuts-shop-today/50270-7.html
New Delhi: Maharashtra is seeing one of the largest voluntary
shutdowns of trade on Wednesday as retail traders, wholesalers and
hawkers across the state are protesting the entry of foreign
multinationals and Indian corporates into the retail sector.
Traders are also holding a rally in Mumbai with the protests being
organised under the banner of the Vyapaar Rozgaar Suraksha Kriti
Samiti, a joint action committee representing over 750 trade
associations in the state.
During the protest, President of the Traders Association of Mumbai,
Mohan Gurnani told CNN-IBN that small-time retailers would be affected
by the entry of multinationals.
----------------------------------------
(Reuters Report)
Thousands protest against retail giants - Krittivas Mukherjee, Reuters
Mumbai, October 10, 2007
More than 20,000 traders, farmers and shopkeepers protested on
Wednesday against the entry of private retail giants like Wal-Mart
into India which they say would destroy millions of livelihoods.
The protests in Mumbai were the biggest yet against the ambitions of
foreign and local companies to introduce Western-style supermarkets
into a fragmented $350 billion market expected to double in size by
2015.
The protests reflect wider social tensions in the fast-growing Asian
giant, where private investment is frequently opposed by traders
scared of new retail competition and villagers worried their land will
be taken for multinational factories.
Farmers wearing traditional long white shirts and white caps marched
in long processions waving posters with slogans like "It's now or
never. Wal-Mart quit India."
"This is a do or die battle for us. Either they go or the small
traders and farmers perish," said Dharmendra Kumar, Director of India
FDI Watch, spearheading the campaign against private retail in India.
Past demonstrations had failed to attract large numbers but retail
opponents have managed to force Reliance Industries, India's biggest
listed company, to lay off 1,000 staff and close stores after protests
in north and east India.
Reliance Retail, a subsidiary of Reliance Industries, plans to invest
more than $5.5 billion in its venture.
Protesters also fear US giant Wal-Mart Stores is trying to enter
Indian retail by the back door after it signed a wholesale venture
with India's Bharti Enterprises. Currently foreign multibrand retail
stores are not allowed in India.
Foreign retail giants Carrefour and Tesco have also shelved investment
plans due to the uncertainty.
Large companies still account for only three percent of India's retail
market.
Protests have focused on Reliance partly because its size and brand
name in India make it an easy target. Some other local retailers, such
as Spencer's, operate dozens of stores in India without facing so many
protests.
Retailers fear protests could snowball in India as politicians feel it
could win them votes, especially with talk of a snap general election
next year.
"Earlier, there were protests from only a few organisations, but now
some states are proposing to ban modern retail, and that is a very
serious issue," said Gibson Vedamani, head of Retailers Association of
India, which represents 200 local and foreign firms.
Those against private retail say 40 million jobs will be lost, against
the 2 million that modern retail promises to create.
"They have government support, financial muscle. It is like they are
boxing with gloves and we are being asked to fight bare-handed without
any protection," said Sharadkumar Maru, head of a grain merchants'
association.
(Additional reporting by Rina Chandran in Mumbai)
---------------------------------------------
(In Times) - India revolts against foreign retail
Thousands of farmers and shopkeepers take to the streets of Bombay to
protest against the entry of foreign retailers - Ashling O'Connor in
Bombay
http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/markets/india/article2637466.ece
More than 20,000 farmers and shopkeepers took to the streets of
India's commercial capital yesterday in the biggest public
demonstrations against the market entry of foreign retailers.
The outburst in Bombay reflect a growing fear among India's 12 million
small store owners that their businesses will be destroyed by
competition from giants such as Wal-Mart that are keen to break into a
$330 billion (£162 billion) retail market forecast to double in size
by 2015.
The world's largest retailer has opened a cash-and-carry business with
a local partner, Bharti Enterprises, but is not free to sell directly
to Indian consumers because of a ban on foreign investment in the
multibrand sector.
Activists claim that the move is a smokescreen to greater ambitions
and that the US company will lobby hard for a change in legislation
once it has a foothold.
They say that 40 million livelihoods are at stake.
"Wal-Mart got to where it is by squeezing the small guy," said Vinod
Shetty, a labour lawyer and a leader of the Quit Retail movement
gathering pace across the country.
"What they want in India is a ready-made market but this is one
business that Indian companies do know.
"We do not need to hand it over to them so they can wipe out the
competition."
It is not only foreign retailers that are feeling the heat - big
Indian conglomerates with plans to open stores are facing similar
opposition.
Reliance Retail, a subsidiary of Reliance Industries, run by India's
richest man, was forced last month to lay off 1,000 staff and close
outlets after violent protests in northern and eastern India.
The adverse reaction has forced India's biggest public company to
rethink its $5.5 billion national rollout of a "farm to fork" food
retail network.
In the most sensitive parts of the country, it may now refrain from
selling fruit and vegetables.
Nearly all the big Indian industrial houses are proposing to run
retail ventures.
Mahindra & Mahindra, the $4.5 billion tractor and technology group,
joined the fray yesterday with a plan to sell toys and lifestyle
products.
Amid the controversy, there is a fear among these groups that the
protests could spiral out of control, particularly with opposition
politicians fuelling the fires ahead of possible mid-term elections.
Some states are talking about banning modern retail outlets
altogether.
"This is going to be a political strain for many years," Wade Rathke,
the founder of Acorn, a US community group helping the Indian campaign
against Wal-Mart, said.
The uncertainty has kept other foreign retailers, such as Carrefour
and Tesco, out of India where companies - or the so-called organised
sector - still account for only 3 per cent of the market.
"In areas like software and engineering we need foreign investment,
but retail is not rocket science," Mahesh Kambli, the chief executive
of the Apna Bazaar Co-operative, a chain selling food and medicines,
said.
"If we let them in, the market will be run by a cartel of seven or
eight retailers who five years down the line will get whatever price
they ask for because there won't be any competition left."
-----------------------------------------
(In The Wall Street Journal) - India's Populists Resist Big Retail
By Vibhuti Agarwal and Krishna Pokharel
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB119186869516152490.html?mod=googlenews_wsj
Tens of thousands of demonstrators are expected to take to the streets
of Mumbai tomorrow as India's so-called Retail Revolution sparks a
growing backlash among those seeking to protect the livelihoods of
small merchants and squelch the plans of large Indian retailers and
foreign giants such as Wal-Mart Stores.
The protests are just the latest example of how the huge push to
establish chains of supermarkets and the infrastructure to support
them is prompting a popular and political response that could cloud,
at least temporarily, the promise of transforming how people shop in
the world's second-most-populous country. The protesters contend ...
--------------------------------------------------------------
(In BBC) - India's small retailers protest
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7037573.stm
Thousands of small shopkeepers and street hawkers have protested in
the Indian city of Mumbai over the proposed entry of foreign retail
chains.
They are also opposed to Indian firms operating Western-style
supermarket stores in several states.
India's Small Retailers Protests Invasion By Big Retail Chains
http://www.allheadlinenews.com/articles/7008789622
Mumbai, India (AHN) - Thousands of small retailers and shop owners
held a rally in Mumbai Wednesday to protest the invasion by large
domestic and international retail chains. They are worried the effect
these western style supermarkets will have on their livelihood.
Jatin Maini, who owns a grocery store in central Mumbai, told the
Associated Press: "We have to come out on the streets because they are
kicking us in our stomach. How will families survive if small shops
close?"
Indian retail chains like Reliance Fresh and Bharti Fresh will compete
with global giants like Wal-Mart and Tesco which are expected to enter
the Indian market next year.
There are also concerns that these retailers will go directly to
farmers to source products; while this is expected to benefit farmers
and consumers, it will affect wholesalers who play an important part
in the current system.
India's unorganized retail sector estimated to be worth more than $250
billion and growing, has some 12 million small, family owned shops
selling groceries, fruits, vegetables, medicines and other household
goods. By comparison, the organized sector accounts for only about
three percent of the market, according to NDTV News.
Wednesday's backlash is the latest in a series against big name
retailers witnessed across the country in recent times. It was
organized by two-year-old National Movement for Retail Democracy or
NMRD.
Protestors had come from across the state of Maharashtra.
----------------------------------------
(In International Herald Tribune)
Small shop owners protest megastores in western India -
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/10/10/asia/AS-GEN-India-Retail-Protests.php
Thousands of small shop owners and traders in rallied in Mumbai on
Wednesday to protest the growth of large retail chains that they
saying will ruin family businesses and cost millions of jobs.
--------------------------------------------------
(In Forbes) - Indians Take To Streets Against Wal-Mart - Ruth David
http://www.forbes.com/markets/2007/10/10/india-retail-protests-markets-emerge-cx_rd_1010markets41.html
MUMBAI -
Thousands of shopkeepers rallied Wednesday here to protest the advent
of large retail stores, saying companies like Wal-Mart and Reliance
Retail would destroy their livelihoods.
Waving banners and shouting slogans like "Down, down Reliance" and
"It's now or never, Wal-Mart quit India," the shopkeepers gathered in
an open field in the southern part of the city. Organizers said the
protests attracted over 20,000 people but some media reports put the
numbers at less than 10,000.
"This is a do-or-die battle for us. Either they go or the small
traders and farmers perish," said Dharmendra Kumar, director of India
FDI Watch, which is leading the campaign against the big companies
that are trying to bring big-box style stores and supermarkets to
India. He said 200 million Indians depend for their livelihood on the
highly fragmented retail industry, which is dominated by about 12
million small mom and pop stores. Organized retail accounts for 3% of
an industry estimated at $350 billion.
India FDI Watch maintains that the small fry are on track to lose
almost 20% of their business to corporate retailers in the next four
years. Recent studies around malls and hypermarkets have already shown
a steady decline in the business of small retail stores, it said.
With so many people directly affected, politicians are under extreme
pressure to rein in corporate retailers.
Reliance Retail, which has committed to spend over $5.5 billion to
open up a chain of supermarkets under the Reliance Fresh brand, had to
lay off employees and shut locations in north India under pressure
from politicians following protests by farmers there. (See: " Indian
State Orders Closure Of Reliance Retail Stores") State politicians are
moving to ban chain stores in response to the opposition.
Mohan Gurnani, president of the Federation of Associations of
Maharashtra, said the protesters wanted the government to ban foreign
direct investment in retail, revoke retailers' cash-and-carry licenses
and develop a hawkers' policy. He told protesters at the rally to vote
for the party that promised to save their jobs.
-----------------------------------------------------
(In Telegraph) - Small voices fight big retail
OUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1071011/asp/nation/story_8421827.asp
Mumbai, Oct. 10: Asif Shaikh spent last night at the Chhatrapati
Shivaji railway terminus so he could join the 20,000 protesters
railing against organised retail at nearby Azad Maidan.
"I wanted to lend my voice to the protest. So I took a train to
Mumbai. When small voices come together, there is a roar. That is what
we want the government to hear," said the 58-year-old school dropout
who owns a grocery shop in Kolhapur, 400km away.
At the rally, Shaikh met many traders, shopkeepers and small farmers
who had come from his hometown as well as others who'd travelled from
elsewhere in Maharashtra.
The protesters want a ban on the entry of big business, foreign or
local, into retail.
"Unity will ensure we don't perish. Otherwise what is a small trader
against a giant, be it Reliance or Wal-Mart. But together, we can take
them on," said Shivnath Waygankar, a groundnut farmer from Pune's
Chinsuad.
Waygankar said Reliance Fresh had approached him for procurements. "I
said no. They will give us a good price. It is tempting. But
eventually, they will squeeze us.
The rally shut down shops across Maharashtra. Many Mumbaikars had to
go without vegetables as the biggest wholesale market in the city, in
Navi Mumbai's Turbhe, pulled down its shutters.
The rally was organised under the banner of Vyapaar Rozgaar Suraksha
Kriti Samiti.
-------------------------------------------------------
(In Times) - Bombay workers protest against foreign giants
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article2630464.ece
More than 20,000 farmers and shopkeepers took to the streets of
India's commercial capital today in the biggest public demonstration
yet against the market entry of foreign retailers.
Wal-Mart got to where it is by squeezing the small guy," said Vinod
Shetty, a labour lawyer and a leader of the Quit Retail movement
gathering pace across the country. "What they want in India is a
ready-
made market but this is one business that Indian companies do know. We
do not need to hand it over to them so they can wipe out the
competition."
"This is going to be a political strain for many years," said Wade
Rathke, founder of Acorn, a US community group helping the Indian
campaign against Wal-Mart.
The uncertainty has kept other foreign retailers such as Carrefour and
Tesco out of India where companies - or the so-called organised sector
- still account for only 3 per cent of the market.
"In areas like software and engineering we need foreign investment but
retail is not rocket science," Mahesh Kambli, chief executive of the
Apna Bazaar Co-operative, a chain selling food and medicines, said.
"If we let them in, the market will be run by a cartel of seven or
eight retailers who, five years down the line, will get whatever they
price they ask for because there won't be any competition left."
------------------------------------------------
Maharashtra traders protest FDI in retail -
By Sify Correspondent | Wednesday, 10 October , 2007, 21:33
http://sify.com/news/fullstory.php?id=14541227&vsv=SHGTslot7
Mumbai: Thousands of retail and whole traders converged at the Azad
Maidan in south Mumbai on Wednesday, even as their counterparts
elsewhere in Maharashtra joined them and downed their shutters in
protest against the entry of multinationals and Indian corporates in
the large-scale retail business in the country.
"This is a do or die battle for us. Small traders and farmers will
face difficulty because of their entry," Dharmendra Kumar, director of
the India FDI Watch, one of the leading campaigners against the retail
giants, said.
Veteran socialist from Pune Dr Baba Adhav, who controls several
unions, came in a motorcycle rally, and joined the protestors.
The protestors submitted a memorandum to the state government.
Now, Mumbai up in arms against corporate retailers
---------------------------------------
http://www.domain-b.com/industry/retail/20071011_retailers.html
Mumbai: Over 15,000 retailers, wholesalers and hawkers congregated at
the Azad Maidan in South Mumbai on10 October, in support of anti-
retail protests organised by the Vyapaar Rozgaar Suraksha Kriti
Samiti.
According to Mohan Gurnani, president, Federation of Associations of
Maharashtra, five crore traders across the country risk losing their
employment if the government does not heed the protester's pleas.
Gurnani said that the protesters would allow the government time till
26 January to suitably respond to the protestors, failing which they
would call for a nationwide strike.
Protests against organised, neighbourhood format retail stores have
been springing up in different parts of the country recently, with
Uttar Pradesh and Orissa seeing some of the more violent protests, as
well as the exit of Reliance Retail, one of the larger players in the
segment.
Various trader organisations have protested the entry of
multinationals and big corporate houses into the retail trade, with
some like Dharmendra Kumar, director, India FDI Watch, even demanding
closure of all corporate bodies in retail, big or small.
According to Kumar, the main targets for the protests are Reliance,
Wal-Mart and Bharti, though protests span others such as Spencers and
Subhiksha as well.
He says that with Reliance opening over 15 smaller shops in one day,
traders feel threatened since it can proliferate localities with
corner shop sthat can wipe them out, unlike bigger retail formats like
Future Group's Big Bazaar.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Traders, shopkeepers protest big retailers -
http://www.indiainfoline.com/news/innernews.asp?storyId=47772&lmn=1
The protestors oppose expansion of large business groups like Reliance
Retail and Bharti Group into retailing and are against foreign
investment in the sector
The noises of opposition against the big retailers spreading their
tentacles just got louder, with thousands of traders, small shop-
keepers, farmers and workers staging demonstrations in Mumbai on
Wednesday.
The protestors oppose the expansion of large business groups like
Mukesh Ambani-owned Reliance Retail and Bharti Group into retailing
and are against foreign investment in the sector, Vyapaar Rozgar
Suraksha Kriti Samiti, the organizer of the rally, said in a
statement.
"This is a do or die battle for us. Either they go or the small
traders and farmers perish," said Dharmendra Kumar, Director of India
FDI Watch, which is spearheading the campaign against private retail
in India.
The Vyapaar Rozgar organization represents about 750 unions and small
business associations.
---------------------------------------------------
Hindu Front Page - Protest against retail giants - Staff Reporter
http://www.hindu.com/2007/10/11/stories/2007101161661500.htm
MUMBAI: Over 20,000 people gathered at Azad Maidan here on Wednesday
to protest against the entry of corporates and foreign chains such as
Wal-Mart into retail trade in India.
The protesters, who were also demanding the implementation of labour
laws in Special Economic Zones, belonged to diverse groups such as
retailers, wholesale traders, hawkers and Mathadi labourers. They are
opposing the amendments to the Agricultural Produce Marketing
Committee Act that allows corporates to buy products from farmers and
sell them directly to the consumers.
"Various groups that have never come together are protesting all over
the State under the umbrella of "Vyapar Rozgar Suraksha Kriti Samiti,"
Mohan Gurnani, president of the Federation of Association of
Maharashtra (FAM) said.
-------------------------------------------------------------
In Indiaretailing.com -
http://www.indiaretailing.com/news.asp?id=999&topic=1
More than 20,000 traders, farmers and shopkeepers today marched
through the streets of Mumbai, to protest entry of retail giants like
Wal-Mart fearing loss of livelihood.
Farmers wearing traditional long white shirts and white caps marched
through the streets of this metropolis waving posters with slogans
like "It's now or never. Wal-Mart quit India."
"This is a do or die battle for us. Either they go or the small
traders and farmers perish," said Dharmendra Kumar, director of India
FDI Watch, spearheading the campaign against private retail in India.
Organised under the two-year-old National Movement for Retail
Democracy or NMRD, the protestors are demanding that big corporations
quit the retail business.
--------------------------------------------
Small retailers stay off rally (BS)
http://www.business-standard.com/common/storypage.php?autono=300938&leftnm=1&subLeft=0&chkFlg=
The rally against organised retail at Mumbai's Azad Maidan today
barely drew about 7,000 protesters, far below the organisers'
expectation of over 1,00,000, as small retailers stayed away.
The retailers, who stayed away from the protest, said the rally was
called by wholesale traders and commission agents, who feared losing
out to big retail. They added that the wholesalers anyway were not
concerned with neighbourhood retail shops.
The protesters threatened to call a nationwide strike if the Union
government did not respond to their demands by January 26. Addressing
the rally, Mohan Gurnani, the president of the Federation of
Associations of Maharashtra, said no FDI should be allowed in retail
and urged the government to cancel licences given to retail chains and
cash-and-carry majors such as Germany's Metro.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Protests against WalMart and other Western style stores in India (ET)
10 Oct, 2007, 2250 hrs IST, AGENCIES
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News/News_By_Industry/Services/Retailing/Protests_against_WalMart_and_other_Western_style_stores_in_India/articleshow/2447165.cms
MUMBAI: Over 20,000 traders, farmers and shopkeepers staged a
demonstration here on Wednesday against the entry of private retail
giants like Wal-Mart into India.
The protests were the biggest yet against the ambitions of foreign and
local companies to introduce Western-style supermarkets into a
fragmented $350 billion market expected to double in size by 2015.
The protests reflect wider social tensions in India, where traders are
attempting to fight off new retail competition by frequently oppose
private investment. Villagers are said to be extremely worried about
their land being taken away from them for the purpose of building
multinational factories.
----------------------------------------------------------
Small traders declare war on Big Retail -
http://issariesglobal.com/shoutbox/small-traders-declare-war-on-big-retail/
The tirade followed soon enough. Dharmendra Kumar of India FDI Watch
suggested that organised retail has wiped out farmers, traders and
hawkers in Europe and the US. Just 1% of the employed force were
working on farms in these countries as a direct consequence of Big
Retail, and this could never be permitted in India.
-------------------------------------
(In the Business)
Western retailers' passage to India frustrated by tradition
Other News Links -
http://www.just-food.com/article.aspx?id=99979
http://www.timesnow.tv/NewsDtls.aspx?NewsID=3388
In fibre2fashion
http://www.fibre2fashion.com/news/daily-textile-industries-news/newsdetails.aspx?news_id=42374
In NewKerala.com
http://www.newkerala.com/oct.php?action=fullnews&id=10286
Protestors attack Reliance Fresh outlets in Orissa
http://andhracafe.com/index.php?m=show&id=27796
Bhubaneswar, Oct 9 (IANS) At least 20 persons were arrested here
Tuesday for attacking outlets of Reliance Fresh.
Hundreds of people under the banner of Bhubaneswar Small Businessmen
and Street Vendors Association (BSBSVA) demonstrated in front of
Reliance Fresh outlets at the city's Kalpana square and Nayapalli.
---------------------------------------------------------
Fresh trouble for Reliance in Punjab -
http://www.indiaretailing.com/news.asp?id=1002&topic=1
Looking at the apprehensions of small retailers that they might become
jobless, Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and BJP minister
Manoranjan Kalia made it categorically clear that Reliance and other
big houses are not welcome to retail in Punjab.
However, both Badal and Kalia were non-committal on setting up some
legal provision to block their entry into the retail markets.
Commenting on the entry of corporate houses in retail sector, Badal
said, "Reliance and other such houses are big traders and, hence,
should do big business instead of stealing bread and butter from the
hands of small and marginal shopkeepers."
Badal insisted that big corporate houses should spend at least 10 per
cent of their profit on providing good education, health services and
drinking water to people. They should make entry into the volunteer
service sector. There was so much unemployment, poverty and other
problems that could lead to big unrest in the country. "We need to
address issues like unemployment and poverty on priority basis," he
added.
On similar lines, Kalia said: "Reliance is welcome to set up
industries and other ventures in Punjab, but should avoid entry into
the retail sector. Big players like Reliance should not compete with
the owner of a small shop in a town in Punjab."
In August this year, the Akali government had reclaimed Reliance
Retail's land promised by the former Congress CM, Capt. Amarinder
Singh, on the ground that a current government simply cannot give
Reliance Retail land at rates set by the previous government. So,
Reliance will have to buy the land at market rates.
Welcoming Reliance Retail's Rs 500 crore investments, the previous
government, under Singh, had promised to give Reliance Retail 163
acres of land in Goindwal Sahib. The land belongs to the State
Industrial Development Corporation, and a nursery and a warehouse was
to be set up on this land.
Subsequently, a new government came to power and had other new plans,
and Reliance did not get the land as the government now wants to set
up an SEZ there.
Badal, at that point of time, had said that his government had no
problem with Reliance Retail outlets. But he insists that the party
buying the land must pay market prices. And this condition could mean
Reliance Retail might never see the promised land.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
CITU to counter UPA's India Shining campaign - Kay Benedict
http://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?NewsID=1126367
NEW DELHI: Even as the UPA-Left strategists are doing everything to
avert a snap poll, the CPI(M)'s trade union, CITU, has chalked out a
series of agitation programmes between October 22 and December 5 to
counter the so-called `India Shining' campaign of the UPA government.
Announcing the campaign calendar here on Monday, CPI(M) politburo
member and CITU president M. K. Pandhe said the Manmohan Singh
government has given Rs.250 crore to an ad agency to publicise the
achievements of the UPA government.
The government has announced a string of populist schemes which have
no basis and they will remain only on paper, he said, adding: "Huge
public money is being spent. Manmohan Singh is also doing whatever
Vajpayee (Atal Behari) had done during his last days in office and we
all saw the result. The NDA was routed. This government will also meet
the same fate if it does correct itself."
Charging the government with deluding the people, Pandhe said:
"Finance minister P. Chidambaram had recently said that he had no
money to extend the National Rural Employment Scheme to more
districts. But after Rahul Gandhi made a request, the government
agreed to extend the scheme to all districts."
Pandhe said the CITU campaign would be against nuclear deal, price
rise, FDI in retail trade, unorganised sector bill, SEZs and
manipulation of Consumer Price Index (CPI) by the government.
The CPI(M) leader said the party's trade union will offer "physical
resistance" to the "anti-people" policies of the UPA government.
Coming down heavily on FDI in retail, he said even American labour
unions are opposed to it and had warned him of the motives of MNCs
like Walmart.
He said the American Federation of Labour and Congress of Industrial
Organisations which represent 40 per cent of workforce in the US had
recently sent a delegation to India.
"The 20-member team met us and cautioned us against the FDI. They gave
us a detailed briefing on the extent Walmart can harm the smaller
economies. Initially, Walmar will sell quality goods dirt cheap and
once it destroys other competitors in the retail sector they would
hike the prices slowly," Pandhe said.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Bharti-Wal-Mart to train small retailers (ET)
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News_by_Industry/Bharti-Wal-Mart_to_train_small_retailers/articleshow/2451136.cms
NEW DELHI: Bharti-Wal-Mart plans to set up training centres in its
cash & carry outlets to educate small retailers and kirana stores
about product display, inventory management and working capital
management. This is part of the company's strategy to reach out to
small retailers who are feeling jittery about the entry of big retail
corporations in the country.
Bharti-Wal-Mart is of the view that better sourcing of materials,
display of products to suit customer interests, use of technology and
IT and improved waste management amongst others are important to
ensure that small outlets and karana stores don't lose customers to
large retail chains. If retailers adopt these, they will improve their
revenues and also get better returns, said a company executive.
"We will set up training centres across the country. Plans for this
are already underway. They will be taught the basics, largely to do
with better management," said the executive. He also added that the
Bharti-Wal-Mart cash & carry operations would provide equal
opportunity to all, including the kirana stores, to buy from them.
----------------------------------------------------------------
Small retailers embrace IT to boost operations (ET) -
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News/News_By_Industry/Services/Small_retailers_embrace_IT_to_boost_operations/articleshow/2450955.cms
KOLKATA: After domestic retail biggies, mid-to-small retail chains are
queuing up to embrace IT solutions to spruce up their operations. With
the sector getting crowded by financially strong corporate houses and
the likes of Wal-Mart, these players are concentrating on building
their IT infrastructure.
Sources claim that emerging retailers are increasingly adopting IT
solutions for merchandising and supply chain needs, multi-channel
requirements, store-level innovations and planning as well as for
business intelligence solutions. Interestingly, even mom-and-pop
stores are starting to invest in tech infrastructure.
So much so that IBM has identified the mid-to-small chains to drive
its retail business vertical in India. The company has set up a
business development team in India to deploy its own solutions as well
as those developed by its ecosystem partners like SAP and Oracle.