The Cochin Chamber of Commerce and Industry has called for a “Retail Policy” for Kerala to support the trading community.
During a face-to-face meeting with Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, Speaker of the Chamber K Harikumar said the retail community had struggled during the floods and the Covid pandemic. He called for a policy to amend the provisions of the Shops and Establishments Act, where only establishments with more than 10 employees need to be registered as in Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka and to extend the validity of registration to 10 years as in Maharashtra or until revoked as in Odisha and remove annual registration requirements.
Welcoming the reforms introduced to make doing business easier, the Chamber called for the World Economic Forum’s Global Competitiveness Index to be adopted at the state level so that mid-course corrections can be made if necessary and the state can assess its growth.
Mandatory participation and structural consultation of stakeholders in the formulation of industrial policy has also been called for by the Chamber so that the concerns of trade and industry are taken into account at the stage of the policy itself.
As MSMEs employ more than 45 lakh people in Kerala, the Chamber urged the government to set up an industrial clinic to rehabilitate sick MSMEs by offering financial and advisory support by establishing a Fintech-focused NBFC with participation in the state government capital, central, financial institutions and MSMEs to offer advisory support. This model has been adopted by Telangana and works well there.
The Chamber has also called for the introduction of an entrepreneurship curriculum in grades 9 to 12, like in Delhi, to turn job seekers into job creators.
