Industry lauds decision to allow FDI in multi-brand retail
November 24th, 2011 - 11:57 pm ICT by IANS
New Delhi, Nov 24 (IANS) India Inc Thursday welcomed the cabinet’s decision to allow 51 percent foreign direct investment (FDI) in multi-brand retail and said it would help bring down inflation, reduce wastage and improve farmer productivity.
The cabinet, at a meeting Thursday evening chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh also allowed 100-percent equity in single brand retailing.
The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) said opening up the retail sector would usher in substantial investments into back-end infrastructure, which will help cut down wastage of farm produce and offer more choices to consumers.
“This would open up enormous opportunities in India for expansion of organised retail and allow substantial investment in back end infrastructure like cold chains, warehousing, logistics and expansion of contract farming,” said CII president, B. Muthuraman.
The move will benefit the consumers, farmers and small and medium enterprises, while generating significant employment, added Muthuraman.
“India with a 8-9 percent growth in gross domestic product is a consumer driven economy and modern retail has to step up to be able to meet up consumer aspiration,” said the CII president.
Although the government has not given out details yet, sources said some caveats have been proposed in the policy, notably to protect the interests of mom-and-pop shops, farmers and small and medium enterprises. There are some 40 million people involved directly in running these neighbourhood stores.
“This policy initiative is expected to bring more investments not just in the front-end but also in the back-end infrastructure, which would result in reduced wastage and would also help in addressing the issue of inflation over a period of time,” said FICCI president, Harsh Mariwala.
However, this is just the first step. Seeds have been sown but the fruits will be seen only if other policy initiatives are implemented immediately like adoption of model agriculture produce marketing committee act by all the states, and timely implementation of goods and services tax,” added Mariwala.
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- The pros and cons of foreign equity in retailing - Nov 24, 2011
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- Industry feels let down with recall of FDI in retail - Dec 07, 2011
- FDI pause wins peace in parliament, disappoints India Inc. (Roundup) - Dec 07, 2011
- Reversal in retail policy will be major setback: Stakeholders - Dec 03, 2011
- Uproar in Rajya Sabha over FDI decision, house adjourned - Nov 25, 2011
- Amid opposition, India declares retail trade open - Nov 25, 2011
- Top retailers seek 51 percent FDI in multi-brand retail - Aug 12, 2010
- FDI in retail could help consumers, farmers - Feb 25, 2011
- Some states against FDI in multi-brand retail: Montek - Mar 01, 2011
- PM defies calls for rollback of FDI in retail (Lead) - Nov 29, 2011
- FDI in multi-brand retail will reduce prices, says RBI - Nov 26, 2011
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