Retail trade policy unlikely; targeted intervention focus

New Delhi: The government is unlikely to come up with a National Retail Trade Policy and instead is expected to work on policy interventions to support retail trade. The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) was developing the policy aimed at simplifying the licensing process and reducing the compliance burden in internal trade.

Officials said interventions such as National Traders' Welfare Board, Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) and upcoming Sahkar Taxi app would be the way ahead instead of an overarching policy.

"A policy is a bunch of interventions and in retail, a National Traders' Welfare Board is there and interventions like ONDC have supported local businesses, especially ride-hailing services," said an official.

The draft National Retail Trade Policy had proposed a pension and accident insurance scheme for traders, a national common framework for development of the retail sector, easy and quick access to affordable credit, pan-India acceptance of licences issued by states, a centralised computerised inspection management system, deemed approvals and a single window clearance mechanism for making the process of acquiring all registrations, licences and clearances from multiple agencies seamless for retail traders.

The National Traders' Welfare Board suggests simplifications in the Acts and Rules applicable to traders, lowering compliance burden.