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With India’s organised retail sector expanding rapidly, Reliance Retail has called for a major overhaul in regulatory practices—urging a move from the current store-based licensing system to a unified, entity-level licensing framework.
Speaking at the MASSMERIZE 2025 retail conference hosted by FICCI, Ravi Gandhi, President of Reliance Retail, said the existing system—where each store requires separate licenses—creates significant operational bottlenecks for large retailers.
“Today, all retail laws are designed around individual store operations. Every store needs its own set of licenses, which adds complexity and delays,” Gandhi noted. “A transition to a unified, entity-based licensing model would significantly improve the ease of doing business for organised retail players.”
He also advocated for a shift in inspection protocols, suggesting that regulatory inspections be conducted after the license is granted, rather than before. “Pre-license inspections are time-consuming and often delay store openings. Moving to a post-license inspection regime would streamline the process and encourage faster rollout of new outlets,” he added.
Gandhi emphasized that such reforms are essential to support the scale and pace at which organised retail is growing in India. With numerous documentation and compliance checks currently required at the individual store level, he said the regulatory environment must evolve to match the demands of a modern retail ecosystem.
The retail sector, a major driver of India's consumer economy, has seen a surge in investment and store expansion by large players like Reliance Retail, as they target both urban and tier-2 and tier-3 markets. Industry stakeholders at the event echoed Gandhi’s sentiments, highlighting that simplifying licensing norms could unlock further growth and innovation across the sector.
(Source: PTI)
