New Delhi: The BJP-led government may not permit foreign retailers to open mega stores in the country as such a move may adversely impact small traders and farmers, new Commerce and Industry Minister Nirmala Sitharaman indicated. The 54-year old Minister said BJP has already clarified its position in the election manifesto on this politically sensitive issue.
"At this stage, the party position is very, very clear. We have explained about FDI in multi-brand retail that it probably is not best opened up now, because medium and small sized traders or small farmers have not been adequately empowered... if you open up the floodgates of FDI in MBR, it may affect them," she told reporters after assuming charge of the ministry. Sitharaman, the first ever Commerce Minister, was responding to a question whether the new government would rescind the current FDI policy of allowing foreign investment in multi-brand retail.
On her priorities, the Minister said she would sit with officials to understand what has happened all this while and further the manifesto based agenda of BJP. Sitharaman, who was the National spokesperson for the BJP, is not a member of Parliament and would have to get elected to either the Rajya Sabha or the Lok Sabha within six months. The BJP manifesto had said that "barring the multi-brand retail sector, FDI will be allowed in sectors wherever needed for job and asset creation, infrastructure and acquisition of niche technology and specialised expertise".
Although the previous government had allowed 51 per cent Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in multi-brand retail, only one investment proposal of UK-based Tesco was cleared by the earlier government. She said the ministry would look at the current FDI policy in a calibrated way.
