RAI organises ‘Retail Regulatory Summit 2015’

Since the retail industry in India operates under challenging and complex legal regimes covering several central, state and local laws, to help retailers smoothly navigate the complex regulatory maze and to collectively work towards solutions for common issues, the Retailers Association of India (RAI) has launched the Retail Regulatory Summit (RRS) 2015. A first-of-its kind initiative, RRS is a unique platform focussed on regulations in retail.

Top professionals from various retail organizations all across India exchanged views with eminent industry experts and benefitted from the wealth of knowledge and experience of fellow professionals to come up with a practical approach and innovative ideas to take retail ahead and share best practices and to collaborate for collective representation.

“The retail trade is associated with the needs of the society. Today, the needs have changed, which leads to several challenges. If the problems of retailers are not solved, everybody associated with the trade will suffer. Associations such as RAI and platforms such as the Retail Regulatory Summit help the trade in understanding the spirit of the law and flourish,” said P D Kode, Justice (retired) Bombay High Court, who was the Chief Guest of the Summit.

The chief guest's address was followed by a stimulating CEO panel discussion on, 'Ease of Doing Business in the Regulatory Environment' that saw John Wilcox, CEO, Reliance Retail; Jamshed Daboo, MD and CEO, Trent Hypermarket; Vishak Kumar, CEO, Aditya Birla Retail; Pinakiranjan Mishra, Partner, Ernst & Young and C P Toshniwal, Executive Director, Future Lifestyle exchange views on the topic.

The Summit focused on implications and corporate perspective of Shops & Establishment Act, labour law compliances, nuances of Retail Trade Policy, packaged commodities and food safety regulation and licenses required for opening and operation of retail stores.

In addition to the thought-provoking sessions, RAI felicitated members of its Advocacy Committee such as Pankaj Patel, Head - legal, Future Retail; Raghu Pilaka, Chief Risk Officer, Reliance Retail; Ramprasad S, Senior VP - Legal and Company Secretary, Lifestyle International; GR Srikkanth, VP-Legal, Spencer's Retail; Prashant Mehta, VP - Legal and Company Secretary Shoppers Stop and Gopal Naik, Head - Legal and Compliance; Aditya Birla Retail, for their contribution in the field of regulatory and compliance in retail.