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Rather than protesting or creating barriers to the entry of modern retailing in their states, traders, local vendors and intermediaries can become a part of the supply chain logistics of organised retailing and strengthen it, said Retailers Association of India (RAI) CEO Gibson Vedamani. Given the protests faced by retailers in some states, the industry body has sent representations to Kerala, West Bengal and UP governments to revoke the temporary entry ban.

"The creation of such entry barriers for a business entity is an anti-competitive practice which goes against the spirit of the competition law," they said.

The industry body feels that traders and other intermediaries can complement the entire supply chain system by facilitating the movement of goods. "There are certain tasks in modern retailing which are outsourced. In such a case, if the middlemen cooperate and coordinate with modern retailers, they will get better opportunities and higher incomes," Vedamani pointed out.

Many modern retailers prefer recruiting local talent and traders to their product buying division. "Retail chains like Spinach and D Mart in Mumbai and Food Bazaar (a national chain) hire local people as buyers/ merchandisers since they know the quality and local parameters much better," Vedamani added.

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