Accusing the opposition of spreading misinformation regarding policy initiatives taken by the United Progressive Alliance government, a combative Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Sunday said reform measures, including FDI in retail, will benefit the common man and create more jobs.
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Observing that India has a low foodgrain productivity and inefficient distribution, he said increasing the scale of investments in organised retail is one way to increase productivity and distribution efficiency.
India continues to be an attractive foreign direct investment destination to foreign investors despite controversies over special economic zones, a global investments expert said in New Delhi.
India on Tuesday mooted a marketing policy for the sector though domestic players opposed any move to allow overseas investments in the retail space.
The real estate industry is divided over the impact of the proposed foreign direct investment (FDI) in multi-brand retail.
In ideologically discordant notes within Aam Aadmi Party, Captain Gopinath, pioneer of low-cost airline business, slammed the decision of AAP government in Delhi to reject FDI in retail, saying the party is "running in danger" of being branded like other parties of resorting to cheap and populist measures.
In a dramatic turn of events in May 2019, an Emirates aircraft en-route to Dubai was asked to stop while it was taxiing for a take off in Mumbai. The pilot was given no reason and ordered to immediately return to the parking bay. As the aircraft returned to the terminal, two passengers from the first class - Naresh Goyal and his wife Anita - were offloaded by the immigration authorities, who said the duo cannot leave the country. Goyal, founder of Jet Airways, was stunned. The man, who ruled the aviation sector for two and a half decades with an iron hand, did not expect to be offloaded in this fashion.
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The cap on FDI in retail has been totally removed, while the limit in insurance sector has been enhanced to 46 per cent.
A survey, with over 3,700 respondents across digital platforms, found that transparent taxation has been one of the most significant initiatives of the government followed by the production-linked incentives (PLI) scheme, equalisation levy and new labour codes.
Apprehending that the Samajwadi Party and the BGahujan Samaj Party would bail out the United Progressive Alliane on FDI in retail, the opposition in Lok Sabha on Wednesday warned these parties as also Dravida Munetra Kazhagam that history will not pardon them if they sided with the government on the issue despite opposing it during the nationwide protest.
"The figure is showing a recovery in the global markets, especially in European economies," an official said. Mauritius, Singapore, the US, UK, Netherlands, Japan, Germany and the UAE are the major investors in India.
While the Congress will firm up its strategy once the ruling alliance tables the Bill, initial comments by its leaders have been encouraging.
Ministry officials said the matter is being reviewed with the objective of bringing down the FDI cap from 100 per cent to 26 per cent in line with the limit for news media. This decision for the review was taken while discussing the proposal of US-based Dow Jones and Company for setting up a wholly-owned subsidiary to carry out publishing the facsimile edition of Wall Street Journal in India.
Though the impact of the global meltdown would not be 'drastic' on India's economy, its recovery would be 'stretched', with the slowdown of FDI inflow, he said, delivering the Fedbank Hormis lecture on 'The Global Financial crisis and India's incomplete transformation' in Kochi on Tuesday, organised by Federal Bank. He said the fundamentals of the Indian economy were strong, value of exports was only 13 per cent of GDP.
It has been waiting in line with other global retailers like Carrefour and TESCO to tap the growing and lucrative Indian market.
Tightening the norms, the government has done away with automatic approval of foreign direct investment (FDI) in the existing pharmaceutical companies.
He said the policy paralysis, which had gripped the country in recent months, was over, and India was back in business.
Nike has about 400 stores in India.
White labeled ATMs are set up by private non-bank companies that own and operate their own brand of ATMs.
Others like IBM, Coke and Pepsi also lobby for foreign markets.
India allows 51 per cent FDI in single brand retail, but multi-brand retail is restricted for foreign investment.
The government is considering a proposal to allow 100 per cent foreign direct investment into the country's defence sector, despite stiff opposition from the defence ministry that has raised security concerns.
The government's decision to completely open FDI in single brand retail is unlikely to have any significant change as foreign firms will be deterred by the 30 per cent sourcing clause, say industry players.
The government is likely to restrict foreign direct investment in stock exchanges to 49 per cent. This follows a Reserve Bank of India suggestion for limiting FDI in stock exchanges some time ago.
Encourage domestic savings by providing tax incentives for investment in insurance and pension schemes.
Karnataka is currently the second largest recipient of foreign direct investment in India, as it approved 934 FDI proposals worth Rs 7826 crore (Rs 78.26 billion) during this year.
Not just Tesco, Auchan, Walmart, even Biyani & Reliance keen on food FDI: Harsimrat Kaur Badal
India is poised to achieve the target of attracting $10 billion of foreign direct investment this year as inflows have nearly doubled to $4.4 billion in April-September 2006.
The $31-billion company, which sources around 30 per cent of its global consumption from India, had also criticised the Indian government for not opening foreign direct investment in single brand retailing.
Citing India's World Trade Organisation commitments made in 2003, Higher Education Secretary R P Aggarwal said, "The government has proposed 100 per cent FDI in higher education in all institutions."
In India, it is markets that sustain the farmers and not subsidies. We are therefore importing a failed model from America.
Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) chairman Mukesh D Ambani on Wednesday said the latest reforms and relief measures will enable the telecom sector to achieve goals set under the Digital India mission. The Cabinet has announced several reforms for the telecom sector, including redefining adjusted gross revenue (AGR) that will now include revenues earned only from telecom services. The government calculates various levies on AGR. "The telecom sector is one of the prime movers of the economy and the key enabler for making India a Digital Society, I welcome the Government of India's announcement of reforms and relief measures that will enable the industry to achieve the goals of Digital India. I thank Prime Minister (Narendra Modi) for this bold initiative," Ambani said.
The Aam Aadmi Party's decision to disallow foreign direct investment (FDI) in Delhi's retail sector has a taker of sorts in economics Nobel laureate Joseph Stiglitz.
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