India has not pressed ‘reverse button’ on FDI in multi brand retail: Sharma

26 Jun 2012 Evaluate

Indian government has assured global investors that it is taking efforts to implement its decision to allow foreign direct investment (FDI) in multi brand retail.  While addressing the Global India Business Meeting 2012, Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma, said, ‘we know that partisan politics delayed the implementation or notification (of FDI in multi-brand retail). We had to press the pause button, but we have not pressed the reverse button.’

Sharma had also written to three non-UPA chief ministers - 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. By adding further he said, the decision to open multi-brand retail to FDI has been taken in the best interest of farmers and consumers. Earlier, the government has allowed 100% FDI in single-brand retail.

The government’s contentious decision to liberalize FDI in multi-brand retail, which 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.

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