The Supreme Court today said that interest of small retail traders should not be affected due to foreign direct investment (FDI) in retail sector and sought response from the Centre on how it intends to safeguard their interests.

A bench headed by Justice R M Lodha asked the Centre to file its response within three weeks.

“What checks are there to ensure that free trade is not affected, particularly the interest of small traders,” the bench said while hearing a public interest litigation (PIL). “Apprehension is there in the mind of people that small traders’ interest would be affected,” the bench said, adding, “Some regulatory measures should be there.”