Foreign investment in multi-brand retail ruled out for now.

NEW DELHI: The government is currently not working on the modalities of opening up multi-brand retail to foreign investors as it is still trying to strengthen back-end of the retail industry.

“Back-end operations have to be strengthened first as it would lead to value addition, higher remuneration to farmers and also create jobs,” Commerce Minister Anand Sharma said at an awards ceremony organised by industry body CII on Monday.

The minister said exports were likely to pick up in March and India would close the year with much less contraction than feared. “We are hoping to achieve exports of $170 billion in 2009-10,” he said. India’s exports in 2008-09 was close to $189 billion.

When asked whether the commerce and industry ministry was preparing a working paper on allowing FDI in multi-brand retail, the minister said that “as of now’’ nothing of that sort was happening.

A senior official with the department of industrial policy and promotion (Dipp) had earlier in the day said that the government would seek industry opinion next month to change foreign investment norms in sectors such as pharmaceuticals, agriculture, defence and retail.

Current foreign direct investment(FDI) norms prescribe a ceiling of 51% for single brand retail, but do not allow foreign firms to run multibrand stores. The policy allows 100% FDI only in cash-and-carry or wholesale trading.

Source : The Economic Times