Icrier to finally make its retail study public on 26th
Icrier to finally make its retail study public on 26th
The New Delhi think tank that was hired by the commerce ministry to map the impact of the growing modern retailers on the country’s small groups is finally making its study public, some 14 months after it was asked to study the issue.
The Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations, or Icrier, said it plans to discuss the survey at a press conference on Monday. In December, when it reported results from a survey in four cities, and on 28 April when it reported on Icrier’s presentation to the government and its recommendations, ‘Mint’ had noted that the survey found that both profits and sales at the mom-and-pop stores dwindled in areas where modern retailers began operating. Icrier has also concluded that, within five years or so, this negative impact weakens.
In its presentation to the government, Icrier had made several policy recommendations, including a system that ensures better access to credit for small retailers and called for opening of more cash-and-carry outlets for unorganized retail and farmers.
The agency also suggested that the government should “encourage ‘private codes of conduct’ by organized retail ,especially with small supplies; move toward nationwide uniform licensing regime (and) simplify licensing/permit regime for organized retail." Icrier noted that, typically, 22-23 clearances are currently required for a retailer.
The field research study—conducted in New Delhi and Jaipur in the north; Kolkata in the east; Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Kochi in the south; and Mumbai, Ahmedabad and Indore in the west—surveyed 2,020 stores, 805 were in the “control group" or in neighbourhoods in New Delhi, Kolkata, Hyderabad and Ahmedabad, where branded outlets had not opened for business at the time the survey was conducted.
Overall, across both the “treatment sample", or stores in areas where there is head-to-head competition with organized retail outlets, and the control sample, sales of small stores were down 8% and profits 9%. In safe neighbourhoods (the control sample), sales of small stores were up by at least 2% and profit by 5.2%, while in neighbourhoods that saw head-to-head competition (treatment sample), sales and profit were down by around 16%. On an annualized basis, sales and profit were both down 10% in these neighbourhoods.
Icrier also noted that between 2012 and 2017, small stores will grow by 10% a year while big retail would grow by 45-50%, albeit on a smaller base. As a result, organized retail, which accounted for just 4% of India’s overall retail market at the end of March 2007, would have a 16% share of the business by March 2012, the presentation said.
HT Media’s ‘Hindustan’ launched in Uttarakhand
New Delhi:HT Media Ltd, publisher of newspapers including ‘Mint’ and the ‘Hindustan Times’, will launch the Uttarakhand edition of its Hindi daily ‘Hindustan’ on Friday. The edition will be available in Dehradun, Roorkee, Haridwar, Rishikesh and the Garhwal region, a statement said. HT Media will print 60,000 copies of the paper on the first day, it added. The Uttarakhand edition follows the paper’s recent entry into Mathura, Aligarh and Chandigarh. Staff Writer
Another plea against HAL airport closure
Bangalore: The Association of Outsourcing Professionals, or AOP, headed by a former bureaucrat, has filed a petition in the Karnataka high court saying the closure of the old airport after the new airport is opened violates an Indian law on monopoly.
AOP claimed the contract, called the concession agreement, signed in 2004 violates the Monopolistic and Restrictive Trade Practices (MRTP) Act. The vacation bench of the high court admitted the petition and adjourned the case for Friday.
Earlier, the Indian government counsel said the Bangalore International Airport Ltd, or Bial, which will operate the new airport, would submit a traffic study in two weeks.
It would include the possibility of operating short haul flights from the older airport, owned by state-run aircraft maker Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd, or HAL, he said.
The counsel added that the government was in talks with Bial to accept the suggestion of operating small planes from the older airport. Any commercial traffic from the HAL airport, if continued, would affect Bial’s financial viability, he said. Staff Writer
Jet Airways’ Q4 results postponed
Mumbai: Jet Airways India Ltd, the country’s largest private airline by passengers carried, said it is delaying its results for the fourth quarter and full year ended 31 March as the auditing will not be completed before the board meeting on 23 May. The company was scheduled to announce its results the same day. However, the board will still meet Friday to consider other issues, including raising of funds.
A Jet Airways executive said the company will publish its audited results before 30 June. Indian companies have to publish their results three months of the financial year-end but can seek government approval for extending this deadline. P.R. Sanjai
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