Reiterating BJP's stand on FDI in multi-brand retail, Finance minister, Arun Jaitley has said that his government was never in favour of allowing foreign direct investment in multi-brand retail and a recent government notification only published the existing policies that was decided by the UPA government.
On May 12, the DIPP in its consolidated FDI policy document retained the previous UPA government's decision of allowing foreign retailers to open multi-brand stores with 51 per cent ownership, sparking speculations that government had now turned its side in the favour of multi-brand retail, which was its pre-election manifesto that won its commanding majority from an electorate.
BJP manifesto had said, barring the multi-brand retail sector, FDI will be allowed in sectors wherever needed for job and asset creation, infrastructure and acquisition of niche technology and specialised expertise.
Although the previous government had allowed Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in multi-brand retail, notably, only one investment proposal of the UK-based Tesco so far has been cleared.