AP retail policy: Single window clearance assured

Hyderabad: Taking forward his ‘Made in Andhra Pradesh’ vision on the lines of ‘Make in India’ campaign, Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu on Friday discussed opportunities to modernise retail business in the State.

Retailers like Shoppers’ Stop, Walmart India, Lifestyle International, Future Retail, Trent, Reliance Retail, K Raheja Group, Aditya Birla and Retailers Association of India participated in the meeting and apprised him of the challenges in opening retail outlets across the State. According to them, under the current policy, if a retailer wants to open a shop in a town or a city, he has to obtain several clearances every time.

The retailers urged the Chief Minister to devise a mechanism which could simplify the process and enable them to open new outlets through some basic guidelines every time they want to set up a shop.

Speaking to them the Chief Minister said once a retailer gets approval in the State, a system would be designed to enable the retailer to open multiple outlets just by informing the single-desk (for clearances) and by following basic guidelines.

Replying to retailers’ suggestion to set up ‘Retail Zones’ in the State, the Chief Minister asked them to come up with a plan of action in this regard. Naidu also agreed for 365-day working for outlets where retailers have to abide by Labour laws and create a shift system for employees. Explaining that Andhra Pradesh is poised to become an international logistics hub, he asked retailers to encourage manufacturers to set up units in the State.

On food products, the Chief Minister said the retailers could get food from local areas (for marine, agriculture and dairy products) and sell them for local consumption.

Pointing out that retailers face logistics challenges, the CM asked them to bring in world-renowned experts from the field and work on introducing logistics courses in colleges and universities. Retailers Association of India CEO Kumar Rajagopalan said the industry launched a training program through National Skill Development Corporation to assess skills of the candidate, train youth and give certificates to them.

The Chief Minister asked the retailers to take up quality control test and labeling of products made by DWCRA women. He also advised them to take up promotion drive for the products. The Retailers Association of India invited the Chief Minister to attend retailers' conference in February in Mumbai.

B S Nagesh of Shoppers’ Stop, Murali Lanka of Walmart, Rajneesh of Walmart India, Kabir Lumba of Lifestyle International, Rakesh Biyani of Future Group, Noel Tata of Trent, Venugopal Komanduri of Reliance Retail, Ravindranath of Raheja Group, Ashish Dikshit of Aditya Birla, Kumar Rajagopalan, Gautam Jain and Raghavendra of Retailers Association of India, advisor to AP Government (communication) Dr Parakala Prabhakar, Principal Secretary to CM Satish Chandra and Secretary to CM Sai Prasad were also present in the meeting.

YSRCP opposes govt’s move

Hyderabad: Taking strong objection to Telugu Desam government allowing Multi National Companies (MNCs) to set up retail outlets in the State, YSR Congress Party on Friday said this would badly affect small and petty traders and was against the State interests.

Addressing the press here, party spokesperson Vasireddy Padma said TDP has opposed the FDI Bill in the Parliament and had participated in a nationwide strike against the FDI in retail sector. After assuming power, AP Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu gave his nod for MNCs to set up retail zones which shows his

double standards and commercialisation of governance.

“The reason behind giving the permission in a tearing hurry gives raise to many apprehensions and large sums of money must have changed hands. The very same TDP, which has opposed FDI in the Parliament in 2012 along with BJP, has now taken a U-turn. Such anti-people decisions are against the State interests and are in tune of the mercantile mindset of Naidu,” she said.