Government considering opening fully the single-brand retail

03 Oct 2011 Evaluate

The Indian government is considering opening fully its single-brand retail sector to foreign direct investments, and the foreign companies will be allowed to completely own single-brand retail stores in the country. At present, India allows 51% foreign direct investment (FDI) in single-brand retail and 100% in wholesale operations. Though, the move to raise the FDI limit in singlebrand retail is being accompanied with tightening of norms for the sector. In its update of the FDI policy issued on September 30, the government has mandated that the foreign investor must own the brand that it intends to retail in India. This is to ensure that franchisees of brands do not take advantage of a more liberal investment regime.

The government had long been considering to allow foreign firms such as global retail giant Wal-Mart to invest in supermarkets, but lack of political consensus and concerns of small-shop owners have so far prevented the move. These global retail chains such as Walmart, Tesco and Carrefour see India’s 1.2 billion population as one of the world’s last largely untapped markets and have been impatiently waiting for several years to open stores in India and earlier this year a committee of secretaries had endorsed a proposal to allow 51% FDI in multi-brand retail. But the proposal has not gone to the Union Cabinet because of differences within and possibility of political opposition.

Meanwhile, it is being said that in the absence of supermarket reform, the government is considering to free up the single brand sector to send a positive signal about the country’s investment climate. However, the industry secretary had last week dismissed talk the supermarket reform was on the backburner.

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