Nearly 10 thousand trade federations and associations would participate in the nation-wide bandh on September 20, protesting against 51 per cent foreign direct investment (FDI) in multi-brand retail, the Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) said on Sunday.
“The Bharat Vyapar Bandh called by...CAIT...in protest against FDI in Retail has evoked good response from all over the country. Nearly 10 thousand Trade Federations and Associations are expected to participate in the Bharat Vyapar Bandh,” CAIT said in a statement.
On Saturday, CAIT Secretary General Praveen Khandelwal had said, “We want the government to roll-back its decision to implement FDI in multi-brand retail as it would adversely impact the traders.”
The Cabinet had on September 14, decided to operationalise 51 per cent FDI in multi-brand retail but left it to the state governments to allow setting up of such stores.
In November last year, the government had put on hold the decision on 51 per cent FDI in multi-brand due to political opposition, including from UPA constituent Trinamool Congress.
There is no doubt that 51 per cent FDI multi-brand retail will affect all sections, particularly the small retail traders. They have no other go but to fight out against the government's decision. The traders have stated that they are even prepared to sacrifice their life for the cause of forcing the government to
to roll-back its decision to implement FDI in multi-brand retail.The gravest impact of FDI in retail trade will be on the family run tiny retail shops. Tens of thousands of tiny retail outlets have gone out of business in the West as they were not able to compete with companies like Wall-Mart, Tesco and Carrefour. The retail market is not infinite; therefore the growth of corporate retail will mean the loss of local shops and employment. The employment potential in the retail sector will go down very much as the proportionate employment in relation to total sales is much less in the retail chain stores organisations.
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