Renaming of Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP)

The Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) has been renamed as the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade.

Mandate for the Newly Named Department

The newly named department will work under the Union Ministry of Commerce. The order issued by the President states that the department would deal with matters related to start-ups, facilitating ease of doing business among others.

The subject matter of internal trade which was under the ambit of the Ministry of Consumer Affairs has been transferred to the newly named department.

With this new mandate, both internal and external trade has been brought under a single Ministry (Ministry of commerce and industry). This will ensure better coordination and help in promoting the growth of both segments of the trade.

Why the new mandate?

For a long time Confederation of All India Traders Association (CAIT) was demanding for a separate Ministry of Internal Trade. CAIT sees the creation of a separate department by merging Internal and external trade is a step forward in the creation of a separate Ministry.

Union Government to adopt three-pronged approach to spur internal trade

The Union Government may soon consider adopting a three-pronged approach to revitalise domestic retail and wholesale trade.

The three-pronged approach includes (i) Establishing a regulatory body for national internal trade (retail and wholesale) (ii) Comprehensive domestic trade policy and (ii) Board for Internal Trade.

Need for new approach

• Domestic trade mainly comprises non-corporate small businesses providing employment to an estimated 460 million people.
• Currently, there is no single regulatory body or Ministry for such six crore small businesses in the country that have collective annual turnover of around Rs. 30 lakh crore.
• The current approach policy regime and the environment is considered only conducive for foreign retail giants and their Indian partners or counterparts

Implications

• The proposed three-pronged policy approach will address need of these small businesses with an aim to generate employment, improve financial inclusion of small traders.
• It will also ensure ease of doing business by eliminating multiplicity of approvals, improve competiveness of economy and boost overall demand to boost growth.
• Besides, the new strategy will also help to link Central Government’s flagship initiatives such as Digital India, Skill India and Make In India with these small businesses.