RAI urges Maha govt to allow non-food retailers to carry out home deliveries

New Delhi, Apr 16 (PTI) Retailers Association of India (RAI) on Friday urged Maharashtra government to permit non-food category retailers to carry out home deliveries for orders taken through phone and or electronic means.

Allowing non-food retailers to carry out home deliveries will ensure that people have fewer reasons to step outside, re is easy availability of non-essential supplies and stricter herence to social distancing, RAI said in a statement.

retailers' body argued that apart from food and FMCG items, people also need clothing, personal care products, baby products, electrical and hardware items, work and kitchen-related essentials and or non-food items when at home to meet ir daily needs.

RAI CEO Kumar Rajagopalan said, "To enable fulfilling se needs without hardships, all sizes and formats of non-food retail should be allowed to take orders over phone and or electronic means for home deliveries".

store premises can be allowed to be opened to limited extent of fulfilling home delivery orders while being closed for walk-in customers. This ensures social distancing and convenience to customers, he ded.

In wake of rising cases of COVID-19 cases in state, Maharashtra h declared a 15-day curfew from Wednesday, entailing stricter curbs on public activities but stopped short of announcing a full-scale lockdown. PTI RKL BAL