FDI In Multi-Brand Retail Good For Country: Kaushik Basu.

Allowing Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) to the tune of 51 per cent in multi-brand retail will do a whale of good to the country's economy besides ensuring farm and agricultural producers get remunerative prices for their produces, Dr Kaushik Basu, Chief Economic Adviser in the Union Finance Ministry, said today.

Dr Basu, who heads the Inter-Ministerial Group (IMG) that recommended allowing FDI in multi-brand retail, said currently in India farmers and other small producers of goods got only 33 per cent of the selling price of the produce with the balance eaten away by middlemen. However, by allowing FDI in Multi Brand Retail, the trend would reverse.
Dr Basu was speaking at a workshop organised by the Federation of Karnataka Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FKCCI) on ''Indian Economy and Economic Survey.'' Besides the move would not sound a death blow to the retailers in the country where the market is so huge, he said, adding the IMG had stated that only one multi-brand retail could be allowed in each zone of a city.

He said the move would also emerge as a boon for these small producers who can look for export market through the multi-brand retailers who would utilise the cheap labour cost of India to their advantage in procuring for their retail chains elsewhere in the world.

Source : centralchronicle.com