न्यू यौर्क शहर प्राधिकरण नें लघु व्यापारी व सड़क विक्रेताओं को फल व सब्ज़ी बेचने के लिए नए लाइसेंस जारी किये -New York’s City Council has passed a bill to issue 1,000 new permits for street vendors to sell fruits and vegetables in neighborhoods where fresh produce is scarce. The council voted 37-9 on Wednesday to issue the permits, which will be distributed among the five boroughs in neighborhoods where at least 15 percent of people surveyed said they had eaten no fruits or vegetables the previous 24 hours.Department of Health Commissioner Thomas Frieden said the aim of the program will be to introduce fresh produce back into neighborhoods where diabetes and obesity rates have skyrocketed. In was the latest in a series of initiatives by the administration ” including a 2006 ban on trans fats and an ongoing fight to make chain restaurants post calorie counts on their menus ” to make New York City healthier.

BHARTI retail banner name unveiled

According to reports, Bharti Retail may call its retail outlets - Easy Day. The company is finalising its plans for the rollout and is expected to open its first store later this year. “Easy Day was among the names being considered, adding that the company has not taken a final decision on it,” the source added. Bharti Enterprises chairman Sunil Mittal said, “You can hear from us on the final concrete plans before April-end.”

French government attacks food retailers and manufacturers :

The French government has accused food manufacturers and retailers of taking advantage of global food prices to boost their profits and has threatened action against such market “abuses†. Francois Fillon, prime minister, said the government would investigate why prices had risen faster in France than in neighbouring European countries. “There have clearly been abuses on the part of manufacturers and retailers who are profiting from the rises in commodity prices to increase their margins,” he said. Retailers rejected the accusation saying that they had already cut their margins to stem price rises.

TESCO accused of setting up offshore tax avoidance scheme :

According to reports in The Times, Tesco has set up an elaborate offshore tax avoidance scheme which could see the retailer avoid paying as much as GBP1 billion (USD2 billion) of tax on profits from the sale and leaseback of its UK properties to external investors through the use of a number of companies in the Cayman Islands. The story cited a Tesco spokesman as saying the allegations were “wrong… Far from avoiding tax, Tesco is a top ten UK taxpayer, contributing more than GBP1 billion (USD2 billion) to the Exchequer last year. The profits from Tesco’s share in these offshore property partnerships are included in full in Tesco’s UK tax returns and the details of the agreements have been provided to Her Majestys Revenue & Customs department.”

Organised Retail sector seeks industry status in this budget

FICCI had prepared a charter of demands for the US$ 12 billion “organised retail sector”, which is currently growing at 30-35% per annum.

Here is a list of major demands :

· The sector should be granted industry status.

· Uniform tax structure should be implemented. Gradual shift from the various state taxes to uniform tax would result in ease in sourcing goods efficiently and in turn aid the growth of the retail sector. The introduction of VAT in all states would result into the scrapping of differential sales tax prevailing in different states on the same product.

· Allow retailers to adjust the service tax on all inputs (rents and telephone) against the sales tax they collect from customers. The retailers who pay the state VAT do not have any output service tax against which they can set off service tax paid by them.

· Eliminate multiple licenses and clearances. Retailers need to obtain licenses and permits such as basic trading licenses, product specific licenses, pollution clearances etc for every retail outlet (even its a chain store). This only delays the opening of stores and increases cost.

· FDI limit should be further liberalised, which will ensure development of robust cold chain system, bets retailing practices and wide range of goods and services at competitive prices. It will also bring along with it increased focus on farmer education and training resulting into better crop/ yield management practices. 100% FDI in multi brand retailing must be allowed in certain areas such as electronics, automobiles, sports goods etc.

In Solidarity!

Dharmendra Kumar

Director

India FDI Watch

M-09871179084

Email:dkfordignity@yahoo.co.uk, dkfordignity@gmail.com