Swaminathan Aiyar - Ambani needs to learn from Deveshwar

The skills of Reliance Industries in 'managing' the investment climate are legendary. Why, then, has it grossly mismanaged the political economy of its retail foray? Traditional agricultural markets have several layers of intermediaries, who prosper at the expense of the farmer and consumer. Eliminating intermediaries and linking the farmer directly to retail means the farmer can earn much more, while leaving a profit for the retailer. Reliance has adopted this 'farm-to-fork' strategy. It wants to be world No 1 in all fields it enters. So, it aims to invest Rs 25,000 crore by 2011 in retail, with sales of possibly Rs 100,000 crore. This includes Reliance Fresh stores to sell agricultural produce. Reliance plans to create half a million jobs directly and one million indirectly in retail. It trumpets this as a win-win strategy for farmers and consumers. Reliance Fresh started rolling out stores from November 2006 on an unprecedented scale. But this has been halted by agitations by traders, shopkeepers and NGOs in several states. Reliance Fresh has been forced to close its shops in UP after violent agitations. It also faced protests in Jharkhand and Orissa, but so far the state governments have kept the peace."

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