“The focus of the ministry is on infrastructural development. The government is putting in a lot of investments for infrastructure growth and in a few years the country will see a better environment for not just retail businesses, but for the entire industry,” Dr Ashwani Kumar, minister of state for industry, Government of India, told Indiaretailing on the sidelines of Retail Symposium 2008.
The minister stated that the business of retail is growing at a tremendous pace and currently contributes about 10 per cent of the total GDP. Retail industry has already been able to generate around eight per cent of total employment generated by all businesses, and is capable of generating millions of jobs in the future.
“The business of organised retail is not only helping in economic growth, but also contributing in uplifting the standards of living and has changed the lifestyle of Indians,” added the minister. “By 2020, India will surpass Germany to become the fifth largest country in terms of consumption, and by 2025, the country will be a trillion-dollar economy, one of the largest in the world,” he added.
Quizzed by Indiaretailing if the present inflation has been brought about by organised retail, he said, “Inflation is caused by many factors and one particular vertical of business cannot be a cause of inflation.” The minister highlighted various other reasons that can actually cause inflation.
Dr Kumar was a keynote speaker at the Retail Symposium 2008, a retail focused event organised by Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) to discuss how retail can drive Delhi’s economy and what the growth drivers are.
Video links for the news:
http://www.indiaretailing.com/exclusive/ashwani_kumar.html
http://www.indiaretailing.com/exclusive/Ananta_Raghuvanshi.html
http://www.indiaretailing.com/exclusive/partha_datta.html
http://www.indiaretailing.com/exclusive/nilesh_ved.html
By Ranjan Kaplish
