USIBC President slams India for suspending its decision to open the multi-brand retail sector to foreign direct investment.
"It is a highly regressive move. For the growth of this vital sector of the economy, which is likely to result in strong linkages with the farm sector and for the economy as a whole, it is imperative that reforms like these should take place," FICCI President Harsh Mariwala said.
With full control over the supply chain, FDI investors will dry up the existing sources on which traders are fully dependent and exploit the situation to their benefit to earn profits.
Information and Broadcasting minister Ambika Soni spoke to rediff.com's Sheela Bhatt briefly on the current logjam in Parliament over the government's decision allowing 51 per cent foreign direct investment in multi-brand retail trade.
Petrol price may be cut by about Rs 1.60 per litre later this month as appreciation of rupee against the US dollar has helped state firms make profit on the fuel.
Bharatiya Janata Party on Wednesday charged that there were differences between Congress party and the government on allowing FDI in multi-brand retail and dared United Progressive Alliance Chairperson Sonia Gandhi, General Secretary Rahul Gandhi and other senior party leaders to make their views public on the matter.
Ruling out any rollback of the policy to allow foreign investment in multi-brand retail in the country, the government on Thursday said it would issue the guidelines in due course.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is trying to bluff people with her opposition to FDI in multi-brand retail, Left Front chairman Biman Bose said on Monday and questioned the purpose of her meeting with the United States secretary of state and the US ambassador to India.
He said with an aim to make the FDI policy user friendly, all prior regulations and guidelines have been consolidated into a comprehensive document.
Walmart's JV with Bharti hinges on policy clarity
A CNN-IBN Urban India Ooinion Poll shows the recent economic reform move of the government has not gone down well with the urban India. The poll shows that while the price rise and corruption remain the major concerns for the urban India, there is also a massive anger over cap on LPG subsidy and diesel price hike among the people across the cities.
The guidelines regarding the decision to allow 51 per cent FDI in the multi-brand retail will be issued by next week.
Defence Minister A K Antony expressed his displeasure to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, in presence of their Cabinet colleagues on Thursday, for permitting 51% Foreign Direct Investment in multi-brand retail.
The company is a 50:50 joint venture between Bharti Group and US-based Walmart for wholesale cash and carry.
Efforts are on to convince West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee to support FDI in multi-brand retail which is coming up for consideration of the Union Cabinet on Thursday evening.
Rediff.com's Priyanka speaks to a number of street vendors in the national capital and tries to gauge their anxieties over government's proposed move to bring in upto 51 per cent foreign direct investment in multi-brand retail.
Kingfisher Airlines soared 5.76 per cent to Rs 13.20, while Spicejet scrip gained 4 per cent to Rs 38.30 on the BSE. Jet Airways rose by 2.44 per cent.
BJP's senior-most leader L K Advani tells Neerja Chowdhury that though the FDI in multi-brand retail decision was taken by an executive order, a "roll back is possible if there is a resolution by Parliament to this effect".
The Congress on Saturday saw "no crisis" over the opposition of it allies like Trinamool Congress to the FDI in retail and said that the party was fully behind Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on the issue.
India received $2.21 billion in foreign direct investment in February, showing an annual growth of 74 per cent, taking cumulative inflows to $28.40 billion for the April-February period of the last fiscal.
Even as the Centre is working overtime to roll out FDI in retail while the real decision might rest with the states, Arvind Singhal, chairman, Technopak Advisors, often referred to as the poster boy of the Indian retail sector, said the so-called big-ticket measure was "not the most important thing"for the sector.
Wal-Mart India said it will "engage and work" with the new government and continue to focus on the cash and carry business in the country in the backdrop of Narendra Modi led BJP getting mandate to come to power at the Centre.
For the fiscal ended 2021, the group has made a loss of Rs 5,943 crore on sales of Rs 11,723 crore, a drop of 66 per cent over fiscal 2020. The group's total debt was up by 7 per cent to Rs 20,742 crore.
Walmart is still waiting for the multi-brand retail sector to open for foreign direct investment.
In recent sessions, shares have rallied on hopes Hindu nationalist opposition leader Narendra Modi, a more business-friendly candidate, is seen coming to power on promises of economic revival and jobs.
Kishore Biyani-led Future Retail Ltd on Thursday accused e-commerce giant Amazon of adopting a media strategy of "having every development reported and converted into a line of communication with stock exchanges" regarding the Amazon-Future Coupons' arbitration proceedings in Singapore. The Court of Singapore International Arbitration Centre (SIAC) had turned down a plea of Future Retail Ltd (FRL) to be excluded from being a party to arbitration. In a regulatory filing disclosing the development, FRL said,"...this disclosure is being made out of abundant caution to avoid any speculation given Amazon's media strategy of having every development reported and converted into a line of communication with stock exchanges."
French giant might apply for multi-brand retailing if UK rival gets nod.
Once it comes to power, the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) focus areas would be infrastructure, agriculture, power and housing. Also on the cards is diversifying agriculture into energy and power sectors to help farmers generate more income, apart from reconsidering opening up the economy to multi-brand retail.
Indian non-store market set to touch Rs 57,500 crore by the end of the year.
Congress can initiate moves that please it -- and any alliance partner can choose to oppose them also. That is a recipe for chaos, warns A K Bhattacharya
BSE market breadth was negative with 1,909 stocks declining and 846 stocks advancing from the total 2,868 traded stocks.
Defending the government's decision to open up the multi-brand retail sector to foreign investment, Plan panel deputy chief Montek Singh Ahluwalia on Friday said it would help farmers as well as consumers.
In India, it is markets that sustain the farmers and not subsidies. We are therefore importing a failed model from America.
The question being tossed around is this: Is there a 'method in the madness' being seen in Parliament? Did the Congress choose to take the decision knowing its consequences? asks Neerja Chowdhury.
The Union Cabinet on November 24 approved 51 per cent FDI in multi-brand retail paving the way for global giants like WalMart to open mega stores in cities with population of over one million.
Some of the domestic biggies like Future Group, Reliance Retail and Aditya Birla Retail, while welcoming the government's move to allow 51 per cent FDI in multi-brand retail and completely open single-brand retail, said it will take time for foreign rivals to make presence felt on their own in the Indian retail landscape.
'Hundreds of thousands of people who earn their livelihood from the 12 million existing retail outlets may be put out of business by Big Retail,' says Bhavdeep Kang.
With the Indian Government mulling over whether to allow foreign direct investment in multi-brand retail sector, here is a look at world's top 10 retail giants.
Besides Ezone, Future Group operates other retail formats like Pantaloons, Big Bazaar and Brand Factory.
The real estate industry is divided over the impact of the proposed foreign direct investment (FDI) in multi-brand retail.
© 2026 Rediff.com - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances