The document discusses ethical issues in the Indian retail industry related to employees, suppliers, and the government. It notes that global retailers are known to overwork employees and pay low wages without proper benefits. Large retailers can also force down supplier prices to increase their profits. There are concerns that foreign retailers will lobby and pressure the Indian government, potentially influencing regulations in a way that raises ethical issues. Suggestions are made around protecting employee rights and developing frameworks to avoid monopolistic practices with suppliers.

1. Group 4
Chandra Veer Singh Dulawat (11BM60030)
Mouli Ghatak (11BM60031)
Arun Kabra (11BM60046)

2. INDIAN RETAIL INDUSTRY
 One of the top five retail markets in the world.
 Market size is estimated to be US$ 450 billion.
 Projected as Prominent service industry with a
substantial contribution to the GDP (about 15%).
 Comprises of unorganized (90%) and organized (10%)
sector.
 Generates employment for about 40 million Indians
(approximately 3.3% of Indian population).

3. WHY RETAIL!
 Retail salespeople are likely to encounter situations
that could be ethically troublesome.
 The pressure of the job may place salespeople in
uncomfortable situations that may be addressed using
questionable behaviour.
 The ethical behaviour of the retail salespeople is
likely to be affected by their awareness of the
company policies.
 The needs and problems of the various stakeholders
are likely to be incompatible.

4. WHAT DREW OUR ATTENTION!
 The Retail Business in India is currently at the point of
inflection.
 The Indian government has now allowed 51% FDI in
multi-brand retail.
 Global players like Walmart, Carrefour which have
been plagued with multiple cases of ethical violations,
would enter the Indian retail space.
 Existing ethical issues in the retail sector have not
been resolved yet. The existing ethical issues might
get aggravated with the entry of these new players.
 These new entrants have enough muscle power to
influence the concerned authorities and the various
stakeholders.

5.  One of the main goals of
Business ethics management
is effective management of
stakeholder relationships.
Suppliers Customers
 To do the same, we have
used Stakeholder Theory to Retailers
identify various stakeholders
in the retail industry and
probe the ethical issues Employees Government
concerned with them.
 The major stakeholders Competitors
under the consideration of
our study are Employees,
Suppliers and Government.

6. EMPLOYEE RELATED ISSUES
 Global retailers are known for unfair workload or poor
working conditions: working off the clock, being denied
overtime pay etc.
 They hire most of the on-floor employees on a part-time
basis and provide them low wages in comparison to the
industry standards, without the regular benefits like
insurance, health cover applicable for full time employees.
 All the employees are entitled to the rights of appropriate
and safe working conditions along with benefits.
 Employers should act as agents to do all the above which is
ethically right thing to do. Here as employers fail to fulfill
their duties, it would result in a moral lapse thus violating
the Deontology Theory of ethics.

7. EMPLOYEE RELATED ISSUES (CNTD.)
Suggestions:
 It is the duty of the employer to protect the rights of
the employees and provide them with appropriate
benefits for both part time and full time employees.
 Occupational Health and Safety measures disclosure
should be made mandatory for organizations.

8. SUPPLIER RELATED ISSUES
• A big retailer has enough muscle power to determine the
supplier prices and if the need be to lower the same to
increase their own share of the pie.
• Pressure of large companies on retailers: e.g. ITC allegedly
forces its retailers to put their cigarette packets face-wise
while that of competitors edge-wise [cigarette companies
are not allowed to advertise their product].
• Under stocking products of certain suppliers by retailers,
giving unequal opportunity to certain suppliers.
• The Utilitarian Theory states that the action should be
morally right if it results in the greatest amount of good for
the greatest number of people.
• In this case, the focal firm would gain the maximum utility
at the cost of other stakeholders like farmers, SMEs and
standalone suppliers.

9. SUPPLIER RELATED ISSUES (CNTD.)
Suggestions:
 Developing a regulatory framework to avoid
monopolistic practices (like fear of predatory
behaviour and abuse of dominance) under the
supervision of CCI or an independent regulatory
body in association with Retailers Association of India
(RAI).

10. OTHER STAKEHOLDERS: GOVERNMENT
 Recently there was news regarding Walmart lobbying
heavily in US for entry in India.
 With lobbying they are trying to influence the Indian
Government by application of pressure from the US
Government.
 This pressure might help them in influencing the
formulation of regulations or preferential treatment.
 This issue gets even more serious in the light of
corruption practices prevalent in India.