FDI a Bane or Boon for Indian Retail Industry Wikipedia says, Increasing foreign investment can be used as the

e measure of growing economic globalization. While reading this, the words growing, economic & globalization thundered in my head and forced this tax payer to ask a question to my dear Parliamentarians: where does my countrys economic development stand? FDI has become a hot topic of discussion owing to the current crisis of allowing 51% stake in the multi-brand retail sector under the UPA government. Currently, there are 51% FDI in single-brand retailing and 100% in stores that sell to other businesses. So far, Foreign Investments have been permitted to various limits ranging from 25% to 100% across diverse sectors, except Retail. In the present scenario, Retail has become a bone of contention due to the large scale of employment that it generates in this unorganized segment. The initial passage towards this was paved in by the NDA government in 2003 and ironically, Murasoli Maran, the then commerce minister, had recommended 100 % FDI in retail. Such is the political flip-flop that all those who wanted to introduce FDI then are now opposing even the 51% proposal. I perceive FDI as a potential ray of hope for reducing the immense gap between what the producer receives at one end, as opposed to what the consumer pays from the other end! Contrary to the clamour by the political parties, the presence of international brands on Indian soil has done no damage, whatsoever! Instead, the likes of Coca Cola, Pepsi, KFC, McDonald etc. are only successfully working as Indian companies, hiring Indian managers & labour, sourcing from Indian producers, using Indian distributors and returning a large share of earnings back to the Indian economy in form of investments! For the sake of argument and to respond to the hullabaloo about safeguarding the six decades of legacy of Indian traders and retailers: when Coke and Pepsi could not kill Nimbu Paani, how can Walmart change the Indian grocery habits and kill local

shops ? The Indian food supply is so vast and neglected that India might be the only place in the world where even Walmart will have trouble achieving scale. To sum up, FDI inflow is only capable of helping developing countries like ours by augmenting the economic growth and increasing technological advancements. In this era of globalization, India cannot afford to stay conservative because the money invested will eventually trickle down to the lowest strata of society, in form of the much desired lower pricing and improved employment !