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In 2014, the Trinamool Congress led government in the state is busy preparing the blue print for a state-backed initiative which could be a potential competition to thousands of kirana or small neighborhood shops in the state.
Soon ration shops in West Bengal would be selling branded fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) goods in close to 500 specialized shops at 10% discount.
For this, the state government is in discussion with a clutch of FMCG giants for selling branded products under the PDS system.
To begin with, the state government planned to formalize a deal with Hindustan Unilever (HUL) soon after the elections, said Jyotipriya Mallick, minister for food and supplies, government of West Bengal.
A HUL spokesperson confirmed that the company was in talks with the state government for the tie-up.
"We constantly look at opportunities to make our products available to consumers in an easy and accessible manner. This is one such opportunity but is currently at proposal stage only," said an HUL Company Spokesperson in an email response.
"The state government plans to open about 500 exclusive retail outlets for selling non-PDS products of leading FMCG companies. The products would be available at nearly 10% discount compared to open market retail prices," said Mallick.
Apart from HUL, the government is planning to rope in Nestle and Britannia under the initiative, added Mallick.
Notably, the idea of selling branded products in ration shops was first proposed by the earlier Left Front government in 2009.
"Our plan is to revamp the public distribution system, by bringing in a gamut of reforms," said Mallick.
In West Bengal there are more than 20000 fair price shops. The state government is also planning to complete the digitization process of ration cards over the next two months. The process will cost close to Rs 112 crore.
