Kerala   

Hate retail, love retail

Retail chains are liked by many consumers, hated by most of the small retailers, and opposed by several politicians. In the consumerist and politically conscious State of Kerala, a war of words has already been initiated. Civil Supplies Minister C. Divakaran, in a hard hitting speech at a function organised by The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India, vehemently argued that the reductions offered by these outlets were on inflated prices. He also disputed the claim o f retail monopolies on the quality of items sold. About four crore people depended on small retail stores in India and they would be thrown out of their livelihood by the monopolies, he said.

Though on a different platform, the services of organised retail in distribution of fish came in for a casual praise by G. Mohan Kumar, Chairman of Marine Products Export Development Authority. He said during the course of a press meet that the retail activity had resulted in higher supply of fish in the internal market. The quality control set-up of the retailers was good. The fish sales through the retail chains would go up to Rs.1,500 crore by 2010, he said, quoting the retail sources.

R. Ramabhadran Pillai

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