RAI urges govt to relax compliance requirements of retailers to pay MSME suppliers in 45 days’ time till March 2022

New Delhi, May 27 (KNN) In a bid to provide relief to the retail sector which too hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic, the Retailers Association of India (RAI) has demanded to relax compliance requirements of retailers to pay MSME suppliers in 45 days’ time till March 2022.

The retailers' body also said that it’s important for various agencies and bodies to work together to help minimise impact and aid recovery.

It further asked the government to pay PF contribution of both employer and employee (12 per cent each) till September 2021 for all employees earning less than Rs 15000 per month.

“While it is imperative to get the last mile workers in retail vaccinated on priority, it is equally important to ensure that the entire cost of the shutdown is not borne by the business alone. We have already seen a lot of work happening within the industry by mall owners and landlords giving rebate to their retail tenants, and the suppliers giving additional credit period or bringing down the cost of their merchandise,” said Kumar Rajagopalan, CEO, Retailers Association of India (RAI).

“We do believe that the state government, the central government, the Reserve Bank of India and the banks also have to chip in to soften the blow of the pandemic to businesses and the economy. Unless the retail businesses are able to get back on their feet and get the consumption going again, it will adversely affect the economy since retail contributes 10 per cent to the nation’s GDP,” Rajagopalan added.

RAI has also requested to extend renewals of existing permits, licenses, NOCs and permissions including shops and establishments licenses, trade licenses, food licenses etc required for running of the malls, shopping centres, retail stores, restaurants and pubs for a period of 1 year.

The association has also demanded to relax compliance requirements of retailers to pay MSME suppliers in 45 days’ time till March 2022.

It has asked for 100 per cent relief to landlords and malls in payment of property tax for the year 2021-22 and mandate electricity distribution companies to waive minimum demand charge for the period April 2021 to June 2021.

RAI has also requested the government to mandate banks to give ad-hoc working capital loans of 30 per cent more than current limits so that critical payments like salaries and wages can be made.

Mandate Electric Distribution companies to waive minimum demand charge for the period April 2021 to June 2021, Extend the benefits of ECLGS 3.0 to retail companies, Announce a moratorium on principal and interest for 6 months and Provide Interest subvention to reduce the burden of interest were the other demand from RAI.