This guy talks nonsense! One stage he says wal-mart will wipe out all small and big retailers. And at another stage he says they will operate only at top end! Either one of that is true! Today consumers are loosing out due to 1. too many retailers who have no clout to get better prices from the FMCG manufactures 2. Tax evasion and cheating and substandard products etc. Best way forward is let walmart come in%u2026 let them fight and survive whichever way they can. In today%u2019s globalized world, if you close your doors everyone else will close doors on your products and services. Don%u2019t underestimate the power and resilience of the kiranawalas. So many of us enjoy credit (without any paperwork) door deliveries , informal product guarantees and returns. Walmart will have to struggle and spend
RE:walmart
by on Apr 24, 2007 10:23 PM Permalink
Well.. am not against wntry of Walmart or for that matter any other larger retailer.
I sure would love to see walmarrt in India but the problem inclusing in the US has been that of poor execution of such policy decisions (of course its not a policy decision in the US but one of execution).
Just comapre this with that of the SEZ's in India, its not that we dont want SEZ's but where and what are we going to do with the people that are effected.
It just boils down to a fantastic statement by the supreme court today on the OBC quota issue "frame the rules and then play the game"
So lets open up the market but with some sense of responsiblity towards the poor and marginalized farmers, traders, small time self employed folks of this country.
For consideration... walmart procures a wrangler jean from wrangler at what price? and at what price is it retailed? What is the retail price for the same product in India sold thru the current retail chains - exclusive or other wise? Is there a difference? If there is then why and of not why?
In the US Wal marts hardly have any fresh produce in the stores but they are talking of helping the farmers here, I doubt unless they have a different format in mind for India.
Suggestions;
a) Just like the FDI norms put a cap on imports by the retailing company b) Set employment rules c) Set rules for repatriation of funds - although indirecly by FDI caps but state it upfornt as well for the share held by the foriegn company d) Set plough back rules - a percentage of rev. to be ploughed back in development of the vendors at large (not chosen ones)
Let the retail revolution bring us the benefit of not only lower prices (which I doubt) but better life for all the support infrastructure.
This can be achieved only if its executed well and not as a knee jerk action as the Indian government is looking to do right now. They have not thought thru the entire chain of events and if they have then its been a poor job of educating us till now.
