1. India should allow foreign groups to own up to 30 per cent in "multi-brand retailers", as supermarkets as known in India.

2. The multinational can only repatriate 30 percent of their profits only.

3. The profits either have to reinvested or deposited in Indian banks only.

4. Only Indian currency is to be used for all transactions.

5. Single brand retailers, can own only 49 percent of their Indian stores.

6. All stores whether multi-brand and or single brand in India will have to source 90 percent of their goods and services from small and medium-sized Indian suppliers. Farm produce should be 100 percent local and imports should be banned except for milk products and food items not regionally produced.

7. All middlemen, brokers and agents have to be safeguarded, reemployed and or given special licenses to operate.

8. All farmers in the village should be mandatory sellers and not only a few of them. The retailers have to put and outsource by slab rates vis-à-vis quality parameters.

9. All villages in India are to have the retailers outsourcing offices or officers, cold storages and warehouses. The states have to ensure their existence within a span of one year of passing of the FDI retail bill.

10. All ‘kirana’ stores should be part of these retailers as franchisees with special credits and pricing structure in place for them.

11. All multi-brand and single brand stores in India must confine their operations to 53-odd cities as defined.

12. Single-brand retailers must have a minimum investment of US$1 biillion with at least half of the amount invested in manufacturing, power and infra projects, back-end infrastructure, including cold chains, refrigeration, transportation, packing, sorting and processing to considerably reduce the post harvest losses and bring remunerative prices to farmers.

13. The opening of retail competition will be within India's federal structure of government. Implementation of policy will not be within the parameters of federal laws and regulations of a reformed Supply Chain Management policy in place.

14. Effective and legally binding price control mechanisms are to be in place to keep checks and control over the pricing of products in retail. A strong Constitutional regulatory authority has to be in place to oversee all retail operations like the election commission of India.

15. All commodity exchanges should bar the retailers or their promoters, associates and partners from trading. The retail has to follow national commodity rates only.

16. The government has to butt in with much needed infrastructure and power reforms to meet the challenges posed by this revolution in retail. The lack of proper infrastructure and distribution channels in the country results in inefficient processes. This is a major hindrance for retailers as a non-efficient distribution channel is very difficult to handle and can result in huge losses. Infrastructure does not have a strong base in India. Urbanization and globalization are compelling companies to develop infrastructure facilities. Transportation, including railway systems, has to be more efficient. Highways have to meet global standards. Airport capacities and power supply have to be enhanced. Warehouse facilities and timely distribution are other areas of challenge. To fully utilize India's potential in retail sector, these major obstacles have to be removed.

17. The retail scenario is characterized by logistical challenges, constant changes in consumer preferences and evolution of new retail formats. All this increases the challenges faced by the industry. Various strategies are to be implemented to improve core business processes, such as logistics, innovation, transparency, distribution and inventory, management of point sale (POS) data. Retail majors are under serious pressure to improve their supply chain systems and distribution channels and reach the levels of quality and service desired by the consumers. A nationalized Supply Chain Management Policy has to be in place.

18. Banks should open branches and impart soft loans to farmers to indulge in cooperative warehousing and cold storages.

19. A strong and affective legal framework is required to safeguard both the consumers and the retailer’s interests. It is one of the primary challenges the companies would have to face vis-à-vis the countries present legal framework. Frauds, including vendor frauds, thefts, shoplifting and inaccuracy in supervision and administration are the challenges that are difficult to handle and requires states help. As the size of the sector would increase, this would increase the number of thefts, frauds and discrepancies in the system.

If the above points are incorporated to the letter, then I feel the FDI policy in retail, if implemented, would prove to be a boon for India. Until today the retail sector has played a phenomenal role throughout the urbanized Indian sectors in increasing productivity of consumer goods and services. In India if the above norms are incorporated then it would be the second largest sector or industry in India in terms of numbers of employees and establishments after the agricultural sector.

There is no denying the fact that most of the developed economies are very much relying on their retail sector as a locomotive of growth but as per their regional laws, culture and policies only. The India Retail Industry is the largest among all the industries, accounting for over 10 percent of the country’s GDP and counters around 8 to 9 per cent of the employment scenario here. The retail industry in India has come forth as one of the most dynamic and fast paced industries with several players entering the market. But all of them have not yet tasted success because of the heavy initial investments that are required to break even with other companies and compete with them as mentioned in my earlier two articles. The Indian retail industry is gradually inching its way towards becoming the next boom industry and I hope it does if it incorporates the above points at policy level.