Union Budget 2012-13: Efforts on for consensus on 51% FDI in multi-brand retail

NEW DELHI: The finance minister Pranab Mukherjee in his Budget speech said that efforts were on to arrive at a political consensus on the issue of allowing 51 per cent Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in multi-brand retail.
The retail sector of the economy has been constantly pushing for allowing foreign direct investment (FDI) in multi-brand retail.
The Economic Survey 2011-12 also advocated the case for FDI in multi-brand retail.
The much-talked about FDI in multi-brand retail would come into effect in a "phased" manner, beginning from metropolitan cities, the Economic Survey had said.
It said that allowing foreign direct investment in multi-brand retail is one of the major issues in the services sector, but the move would address problems relating to food inflation, low prices realised by farmers and investment gaps in post-harvest infrastructure for agricultural produce.
While the decision on FDI in the multi-brand sector has been suspended, the government has gone ahead with increasing foreign investment level in single-brand retail to 100 per cent from the earlier 51 per cent.
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