This is one international perception India can do without: the Centre for Retail Research, Nottingham, has shown, for the second year running, that we are a society of shoplifters. The retail industry in India loses close to Rs10,000 crore a year because of shoplifting, in transit and supplier fraud as well as employee theft.
The biggest threats are to the hypermarket system of retail.
Theories can be offered — that we have grown too fast into this commercial society, that with so many poor people, conspicuous consumption is bound to lead to temptation. However, that would lead to needless value judgments and prejudices. It is also likely that the system used by large retailers leaves many loopholes in the supply chain. Shoplifters are customers and it is hard to assume that most come from economically disadvantaged sections.
If we scrounge around for good news, we’ll find there is a shrinkage in the number of shoplifters from last year. But that hardly salvages the larger, grimmer picture — light fingers are still an easy way to add to our closets. Perhaps, we need to focus more on moral science in schools.
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