Commerce and Industry Minister, Mr. Anand Sharma, has written to chief ministers of three non-Congress ruled states (Punjab, Odisha, UP) seeking their support to permit 51% FDI in multi-brand retail. The move had so far been suspended due to severe opposition from UPA ally, TMC, and Opposition.
Mr. Sharma has assured that Competition Commission of India will regularly monitor to ensure that predatory pricing would not be practiced by Modern Retail. Sharma said even in developing economies like China, Brazil, Argentina, Singapore and Thailand, where FDI is permitted up to 100%, local retailers have found innovative ways to co-exist.
According to him, the FDI policy cleared by the cabinet will be an overarching enabling policy framework and state governments will be free to take appropriate decision on its implementation
1. Minimum FDI at USD100mn, half of which must be invested in the back-end infrastructure like cold storages, soil testing labs and seed
farming.
2. 30% of the manufacturing goods procurement must be from small industries
3. Fresh agricutural produce may be unbranded as the government holds the first right to procurement agri product
