Retail Report to generate 10 to 15 mn jobs over next 5 years
10 Jan '07
3 min read
Shri Kamal Nath, Union Minister of Commerce & Industry, released the India Retail report 2007 and launched the portal: www.indiaretailing.com at a function here.
Terming retail as a sunrise sector, Shri Kamal Nath said that the organised retail sector was expected to generate 10 to 15 million jobs over the next 5 years, and that the value of the organised retail sector in India by 2010 would be around Rs.2,00,000 crore or US $ 45 billion.
Dr Ashwani Kumar, Minister of State for Industry and Dr. Ajay Dua, Secretary (Industrial Policy & Promotion), Ministry of Commerce & Industry were present at a high-powered industry and media meet marking the release of the Report.
According to the Report, organised retail in India has the potential to generate some 2.5 million direct jobs through retail operation and over at least 10 million additional jobs in retain support activities including contract production and processing, supply chain and logistics, retail real estate development and management etc.
Stating that the retail sector in India is undergoing a revolution, Shri Kamal Nath said that the phenomenal increase was stemming from the growing purchasing power of the people, which had led to a significant growth in the demand for a variety of goods, both consumables and durables.
Apart from consumers, farmers will also benefit from the retail expansion, he said, citing the examples of several states which were allowing retailers direct access to farm produce, introducing a new revolution in rural India.
“After centuries of economic exploitation, they are today dealing directly with companies without the involvement of middlemen or intermediaries… Organised retailing is thus set to boost infrastructure growth and create efficient backward linkages. In the process, the sector will also create efficiencies, reducing marketing cost, wastages and redundancies”, he said.
marketing@alchempro.com
