Centre will soon decide on opening shops in malls: Goyal

The Centre will soon decide on opening shops in the malls after taking into account the guidelines of the Health Ministry, said Piyush Goyal, Commerce & Industry Minister assuring traders.

In a meeting with representatives of traders associations, via video conferencing on Thursday, Goyal also said that the government was working on mechanism to facilitate B2B (business-to-business) for retailers.

The Minister clarified that the ₹3 lakh credit guarantee for Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), announced as part of the ‘Atmanirbhar’ package to fight Covid-19 by the Finance Minister, covered traders as well. He said traders would benefit from all schemes for MSMEs.

Responding to traders’ complaints on the hardships being faced despite relaxation of the lockdown guidelines, the Minister said that a majority of shops have been allowed to be reopened, without any distinction of essential and non-essential.

He added that a decision on opening the remaining shops in the malls will be taken soon after taking into account Health Ministry guidelines.

Goyal asked retail traders not to feel threatened by the e-commerce juggernaut, as the common person had realised that the neighbourhood shopkeepers were the ones who helped them in their hour of crisis, an official release said.