Minister Rajeeve Calls on Retailers to Adopt Smart Marketing Practices

KOCHI:
Minister for Industries, Law, and Coir P Rajeeve today stressed the need to adopt new marketing practices based on innovative technology, including artificial intelligence, in the retail business sector, instead of resisting the trend.

He was inaugurating the sectoral meeting on retail organised by the Kerala State Industrial Development Corporation (KSIDC) ahead of Invest Kerala Global Summit planned in February next.

The minister called upon retailers to prepare for challenges not only in Kerala but across the country.

“Innovative technology, including artificial intelligence and machine learning, is the mainstay of online retail business today. Resisting such a targeted market is not easy. We should try to utilise it instead,” Rajeeve said.

“This sector should be examined to see how far it can go by identifying its limitations and potential. Kerala has the largest market for consumer products given the high purchasing power of people.”

The KSIDC is holding a series of sectoral meetings to identify projects to be presented to investors at the two-day event, which will be held in Kochi on February 21 and 22.

The minister said that the state government was taking all steps to prepare the ground for the Global Summit to make it a huge success. Similar conferences are being held in 22 priority sectors to understand what the industry expects from the government.

“Our local investors are the main contributors to Kerala’s economy. The government has already taken the first step of initiating the process of enacting new legislations and making amendments to existing laws for increasing investor confidence,” he said.

“There used to be a big gap between the announcements at every investment summit and their realisation. We are making all efforts to overcome this. The projects being announced should be viable and realistic.”

Principal Secretary, Department of Industries and Commerce, A. P. M. Mohammed Haneesh, made a detailed presentation on the New Industrial Policy and explained the government’s schemes and future programmes for the retail sector.

KSIDC Chairman C. Balagopal, Managing Director S. Harikishore, Executive Director Hari Krishnan R., KINFRA Managing Director Santosh Koshy Thomas, and other officials were also present.

Participants at the panel discussion on Opportunities and Way Forward in Retail urged the government to strengthen public-private service partnerships and introduce accreditation to promote local brands.

The panellists presented the changes brought about by innovative technology in various retail sectors and their possibilities and challenges.

There was also a demand to address the GST gap between packaged food and food items sold at hotels

Deepak L. Aswani, Chairman and Managing Director of Lachmandas Group; M. A. Mehaboob, immediate past president and advisor of Malabar Chamber of Commerce; Berly Cyriac, CII Kochi Zone Chairman and Director of Medivision Scans; Naveen Philip, MD of Popular Motors; SP Kamath, Executive Director of Amalgam Foods and President of Cochin Chamber of Commerce & Industry; Varun Das, Business Head of Brahmins Foods, Nirapara and Wipro Consumer Care; Rahul Mammen, Founder of Haeal Life, and Tom Thomas, Director of Fruitomans, participated in the discussions.