FDI in retail: no breakthrough in all-party meet

New Delhi: The Prime Minister's all-party meeting to discuss the issue of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in the retail sector on Tuesday failed to end the deadlock as the government gave no assurance on the issue.

Satish Mishra of the BSP said that the opposition parties have pressed for an immediate rollback of the government's decision of allowing FDI in retail and will not let Parliament run till there is a rollback. He also said that the government has asked for more time to think on the issue.

Sources have said that the House is not likely to function at least till 2 pm on Tuesday. Sources have also said that Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee or Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will make a statement on this later in the day.

BJP leader Kirti Azad said that it is the government which is not keen to run Parliament. "The decision on FDI has to be rolled back. We want Parliament to function. It's the government that wants Parliament not to function. In fact the government is not keen to run Parliament," Azad said.

Politicians slam FDI in retail

The decision of the government to allow FDI and retail has come under attack from several political leaders.

While Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati said the decision has been taken to help Rahul Gandhi's foreign friends, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa called it a 'rude shock'.

Samajwadi Party leader Akhilesh Yadav said, "We are against FDI, this will effect farmers and our retailers. The rejected goods from all over the world will come to India, which is not acceptable."

BJP leader Uma Bharti even went to the extent of saying that she will burn all Walmart stores if the government does not roll back its decision on FDI in retail.

States for and against FDI in retail

The states that are against FDI in retail are Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Bihar, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, West Bengal and Orissa.

The states that support allowing FDI in retail include Delhi, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Punjab and Andhra Pradesh.

The UPA government has cleared 51 per cent FDI in multi-brand retail and 100 per cent FDI in single-brand retail, which means global giants like Walmart, Tesco can open outlets in India. Big MNCs can also jointly own Indian retail chains. 

-Ibnlive