The Retail Association of India (RAI) has appealed to state governments to come up with policy on retail may soon show results. Kumar Rajagopalan, ceo of RAI, told reporters that at least nine or ten states have shown interest to work out a retail policy.

He said the retail sector contributes around 15 per cent of the country’s GDP, but has not been considered as industry, and systems are not in place to support the sector’s growth.

Rajagopalan said that the Maharashtra government has come out with a draft policy, while Andhra Pradesh, Telengana and Karnataka are contemplating a retail policy. When the Goods and Service Tax (GST) regime comes into effect, the retail sector would be more important considering those would be the points where the highest amount of tax collected and policy related to the sector would help the particular states to work better. The RAI has also discussed the issue with the governments of Delhi, Madhya Pradesh and Kerala.

The association said a policy is required to put systems for the retailers to operate all the days in a year. It has also sought amendments in the labour regulations to enable the retailers to work more days and to recognise part time labourers.