India’s Union Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma expressed his conviction over early implementation of the government's decision to allow 51 percent foreign direct investment (FDI) in multi-brand retail, one of the crucial reforms that got deferred due to lack of political consensus. Exuding confidence that political consensus is emerging over liberalizing FDI in multi-brand retail, the commerce minister was hopeful that some positive results would come to the fore in next few weeks.
Government’s contentious decision to liberalizing FDI in multi-brand retail, which they believed would open immense opportunities for domestic masses, had not gone down well with the BJP led NDA and other opposition parties while Trinamool Congress, one of the key allies of the ruling UPA government, too came out strongly criticizing government’s policy decision in the open, leading the government to defer the proposal to allow FDI in multi-brand retail.
However, the government seems to have revived its efforts to build political consensus on the contentious issue with Anand Sharma writing to three non-UPA chief minister Odisha’s Naveen Patnaik, Punjab’s Prakash Singh Badal and Uttar Pradesh’s Akhilesh Yadav seeking their support for early implementation of the government's decision. He has also elucidated various benefits like higher investments, better technologies and efficiencies to unlock the true potential of the agricultural value chain that would come to their states with the implementation of FDI in multi-brand retail. He also stated that the move is likely to open up immense employment opportunities for rural youth and make them stakeholders in the entire agriculture business chain from farm to fork.
The commerce minister also endeavored to allay some concerns pertaining to predatory measures that the multinational companies would employ to drive away small retailers by highlighting that the competition watchdog - Competition Commission of India (CCI) has been established by law to ensure that such practices receive great scrutiny. Citing various examples of developing economies like China, Brazil, Argentina, Singapore and Thailand, where FDI is permitted up to 100 percent in multi-brand retail, Sharma encouraged local retailers to resort to innovative ways to co-exist along with organized retailers.
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