Retail majors join hands for quality

HAVE you bought some stuff from a mall and didn’t find it to your satisfaction? Want to return it, but not really sure if the retailer would take it back? Your dilemma may end soon as corporates are making extra effort to see that you get a quality product, quality service and your grievance is readily redressed. Retail majors Pantaloon, Reliance, Bata, ICICI Bank and a host of other companies have joined hands to set better standards for the services they offer. Growing competition has naturally made companies conscious of the services they offer, but formal standards are still missing in the Indian service sector. An effort is now being made to put in place systems and processes which would ensure high quality service. The effort is led by Industry body Ficci and involves consumer bodies and government. “With the boom in the services sector, it was only imperative for the industry to set a standard for themselves in terms of quality, which has close links with their bottomline,” says Ficci’s quality forum director general H Lal. Representatives have started holding consultations and have been looking at best practices abroad to evolve a code of conduct which will guide corporates on how to deal with the customers here. The consultation would culminate in the formation of an agency in around six months, which would have quality control experts and representation from all stakeholders. Besides setting standards and spreading awareness among consumers, the agency would also help train employees for the same. The most important role, however, would be certification and surveillance to ensure that companies adhere to standards. The agency would also allow consumers to send in their grievances, which would then be forwarded to the respective companies. It would then follow it up with such companies to ensure that the grievance is redressed. Corporates would also be expected to maintain a record of redressals so that they are scrutinised periodically. “Since it’s a voluntary effort and not a regulation imposed from top, we believe the mechanism would be more fruitful,” says Mr Lal.

Courtesy: EconomicTimes