Reliance Retail-Future Group deal: Traders worried over retail mkt monopoly

The deal between Reliance Retail and Future Group has left the market dominance highly skewed towards the Ambani venture, while the rapid consolidation in the country’s vast retail market has made traders and standalone retailers jittery.

“The market should not be concentrated in few hands. Such a scenario always leads to monopoly and consequently unfair domination by the large player(s). We vehemently oppose deep discounting and predatory pricing. It will severely impact the small reta­ilers,” said Praveen Khandelwal, secretary general of Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT).

According to him, the local market houses over 70 million traders and offers livelihood to 400 million people, making it the second-largest employer in India after agriculture.