The Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) had come out with a discussion paper on allowing FDI in B2C e-commerce to initiate discussion. DIPP had invited views on the said subject from all concerned stakeholders including RAI.

Please find RAI’s views on the discussion paper here.

Food Safety and Standards Authority of India vide their Advisory dated  4th February, 2014 has extended the timeline up to 4th August 2014 for the Food Business Operators seeking conversion/renewal of existing License/Registration under the repealed Orders by invoking the sub-regulation 2.1.2 of FSS (Licensing & Registration of Food Business) Regulations, 2011.

Please find the advisory here.

The Himachal Pradesh (HP) High Court has imposed a ban on  sale of potato chips, wafers and all junk food items packaged in plastic and non-biodegradable material from January 26 2014. HP High Court also directed the state government to ensure that edible oils/fats should be packed in tin containers and not plastic bottles or pouches.

We believe that if this judgment is allowed to stand, then all the states may start bringing such type of legislations and will adversely impact the food & retail industry . Retailers Association of India filed a SLP in Hon'ble Supreme Court , against the order passed by HP High Court. 

RAI has submitted a representation to the state governments of Assam and Tripura contending to grant members of Retailers Association of India license to operate stores 365 days a year. We represented that RAI members constitute organized retailers and that retail sector is the highest provider of employment.

Operating stores 365 days a year will employ 20% extra from the workforce. Please find the representation submitted to the state government of Tripura here.

As required by labour laws, all labour registers need to be maintained in physical form separately. Given the large number of employees in stores and back-end infrastructure like warehouses, it becomes difficult for retailers to maintain such registers separately in physical form.

We submitted a representation to the Labour Ministry of Maharashtra proposing that these registers be consolidated into one register which can be electronically maintained in a soft copy format as this would allow the employer to comply with such provisions in an accurate and environment-friendly manner. Please find the representation here.

The Commissioner of Customs of Chatrapati Shivaji International (CSI) Airport, Mumbai, had issued a Public Notice dated 11.11.2013 stating that all the parcels weighing more than 70 kgs. and arriving in Courier mode shall be transferred to Air Cargo Complex Sahar, Mumbai.

Such parcels will be accessed and cleared as normal-air cargo at ACC Sahar, Mumbai thereby increasing the transaction cost and clearance time. Please find the circular here.

RAI has submitted a representation to the commercial taxes department of Karnataka giving all problem related to the additional concept of e-Sugams for sales and Purchases/Stock Inwards. We represented that due to huge volume of transactions inwards & outwards, it is very difficult to meet the compliance requirement.

RAI has given a few probable solutions such as increasing the window from Rs.20,000/- to Rs. 5 lakh per transaction, removing local stock movements from ambit of Karnataka VAT authorities and exempt transactions at retails outlets where the sales is to end consumers from e-Sugam compliance, as in the current notification retail transaction that have a home delivery element will be subject to e-Sugam compliance. Please find the representation here.

RAI representatives met Shri. Arvind Kumar, Principal Secretary, Labour Ministry (Maharashtra), on October 18, 2013.

During the meeting he confirmed that the Labour Ministry will allow all retailers to keep their stores open 14 hours a day from October 27th to November 7th on account of festive season. Please find the notification here..

The new Companies Act, 2013 gives certain CSR related rules to be followed by companies which satisfy the thresholds set forth. However, a few rules such as requirement of independent director in the CSR committee of Private Limited Companies,

 utilization of CSR funds and CSR tax provisions require clarifications.We had submitted a representation to the Ministry of Corporate Affairs to get clarity on the CSR rules given in the new Companies Act, 2013. Please find the representation here. In response,we have received the attached letter from the Ministry of Corporate Affairs stating that our representation has been received and been forwarded to the appropriate officer for further examination and action.

AI represented to the Reserve Bank of India seeking a change in the rule to ban zero per cent interest rate scheme for purchase of consumer goods. As 20-30 per cent of consumer sales happen via such zero percent EMI schemes,

banning such schemes would have detrimental implications for the retailers. RAI submitted that instead of banning, RBI could have laid down guidelines for disclosure/structuring of scheme by banks which would lead to a greater transparency to customer. Click here to view the representation to RBI. We requested Indian Banks’Association to submit a similar representation to RBI which was not done by them. We received a reply from RBI stating that they appreciate our concern but the instructions are for the banking sector and they have not received any representation from them.