The Indian government is being asked to announce the National Retail policy that would let retailers to register as MSME in the upcoming Union Budget. The call was made by the Retailers Association of India (RAI). 

"We believe that such a step would provide a substantial boost to the retail sector and facilitate ease of doing business. We recommend government to announce the policy in Budget 2021," the RAI pointed out in a statement.

They continued to show how the coronavirus pandemic highly impacted the Indian retail sector and that measures should be taken to attempt revive it. In addition, it said that if the sector is supported, the sector would in turn be able to save numerous jobs. 

“Therefore, if a person is merely running a departmental store or a retail shop and retailing in products, not manufactured by him, he cannot obtain MSME registration.”

Furthermore, the RAI gave its view on taxation, noting that GST laws do not allow for a refund. On the other hand, tax rates on inputs services are higher than that on output, resulting in the accumulation of credit with the company. 

Kumar Rajagopalan, CEO, Retailers Association of India, said, “The retail industry was almost squashed during the pandemic. It is slowly getting back on its knees with the opening up of the economy."

He continued, "To get this crawling industry back to its feet and start running, we believe that the budget should address two main things that will bring in Ease of Doing Business for retailers -- freedom from various procedural strangleholds and access to funds necessary for growth.”