New Delhi – The leaders of various political parties opposed to the revival of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in the multi-brand retail sector submitted a joint letter to the Indian Prime Minister’s office on July 21, according to sources in New Delhi.
In the letter addressed to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on the reported move to revive the decision allowing FDI in multi-brand retail trade, the leaders wrote, “We urge the government not to open up the retail trade to FDI any further. Political parties across the spectrum are opposed to this move. Many state governments have also stated their opposition.”
The signatories to the letter, Mulayam Singh Yadav, President of the Samajwadi Party, Prakash Karat, General Secretary of the CPI(M), S. Sudhakar Reddy, General Secretary of the CPI, Danish Ali, General Secretary of the JD(S), Debabrata Biswas, General Secretary of the AIFB, and Abani Roy, Secretary of the RSP, said, “In a situation when employment growth has slowed down according to the National Sample Survey data of 2009-10, the entry of foreign supermarkets would further aggravate the employment situation.”
Citing reports that “the Government of India is going to revive the decision to allow FDI in multi-brand retail trade,” the leaders said, “This decision was suspended earlier due to widespread opposition in the country.”
Noting that the Indian retail sector is the second largest employer in the country after agriculture and employs over four crore (40 million) persons, the leaders said, “Most of these are small unorganized or self-employed retailers.”
“Entry of MNC supermarket and hypermarket chains would cause severe displacement of these small and unorganized shopkeepers and traders,” warned the leaders, emphasizing that the entry of “the giant Wal-Mart supermarket chain would have a disastrous impact.”
Quoting one estimate that, “a Wal-Mart supermarket in India would displace over 1300 small retail stores and render around 3900 persons jobless,” the leaders concluded in the letter to Prime Minister Singh, “In the absence of a wide ranging consensus, we request you not to proceed with this decision.” (IATNS)