Corporate and Chain Retail Adversely Impacts on Indian Hawker Livelihoods

[IFP.E...@googlemail.com]

Please find pasted below the press statement of the India FDI Watch
press conference held on 20 March at Press Club, Delhi to release
India FDI Watch-Action Aid (India) research titled "A Future of Co-
existence" - Hawkers & the Impact Of Corporate & Chain Retail
NEW STUDY FINDS HAWKERS & SMALL SHOPKEEPERS ARE SUFFERING FROM GROWTH
OF CORPORATE AND CHAIN RETAIL STORES

The study found that a majority of hawkers and shopkeepers are being
adversely affected by new corporate and chain retail outlets.
Hawkers' unions carried out the survey of 400 hawkers and 100
shopkeepers across five cities. The Study was facilitated by India FDI
Watch and Action Aid (India).

Among the report's more alarming findings was the extent to which
independent retail is struggling: 85% of hawkers and 84% of
shopkeepers surveyed said their business was in decline. In Delhi,
shopkeepers seem to be worse off than hawkers, for the moment. In
this city, 74% of hawkers and 90% of shopkeepers said their businesses
were in decline.
Across the five cities, however, hawkers and shopkeepers were in
agreement about the cause of their woes. Competition from new
corporate and chain retail stores like Reliance Fresh and More was the
number one reason cited by respondents for the decline of their
business. In Delhi, 45% of shopkeepers said they had increased their
hours of work to try to compete.
Most independent retailers have no scope to compete, however, which is
why 14% of hawkers and 12% of shopkeepers (in Delhi, 11% and 15%
respectively) expect to go out of business while nearly half of each
were pessimistic about the future of their business.*

In addition to this new competition, hawkers are dealing with
increased harassment and eviction drives as of late. 81% of surveyed
hawkers (and all but one hawker surveyed in Delhi) reported being
subjected to harassment, extortion, and/or eviction drives on a
regular basis, while 45% (49% in Delhi) said that the levels of
harassment and/or evictions had increased recently.

Unfortunately, it is the government itself which is responsible for
the vast majority of this harassment and extortion. Well over half of
all respondents (57%) reported paying rents/bribes/fines to the
police, while an even larger proportion of respondents pay regular
bribes to their respective municipal corporations. In Delhi, 91% of
respondents reported having to pay regular bribes to both the police
and municipal officials. Other cities included in the study are
Bangalore, Bhubaneswar, Chennai, and Mumbai.

Retailers are fighting back, however, as evidenced by the number and
breadth of protests that have flared across the country over the last
couple of years. While foreign retail giants like Wal-Mart were the
first targets of retailers' protests, Indian corporate retailers like
Reliance have increasingly been under fire.

As retail is already a refuge for the otherwise unemployed, the India
FDI Watch Action Aid study calls on policymakers to side with the
crores of independent retailers across the country by maintaining FDI
restrictions in the retail sector, preventing foreign retailers from
entering the market through wholesale cash and carry, and banning
corporations from engaging in retail trade.

Dharmendra Kumar, Director, India FDI Watch campaign said that
"Organisations involved in the India FDI Watch campaign have pledged
not to endorse or support any political parties in the upcoming Lok
Sabha elections. Rather, partner organisations will support those
individual candidates who take a stand for independent retailers."
* Including those who predict closure of their business.