Skip to main content

Govt may allow FDI in multi-brand retail, invites feedback

Category  :  Industry
Date  :  Jul-07-2010 12:59

The Government of India has asked the feedback from different stakeholders whether Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in Retail should be permitted or not.Organised Retail in India is going through tuff-time, as it has become the symbol of the big corporates taking away the business of small shops and a touchy socio-political issue affecting the "Aam Admi" or Public.On Tuesday, the commerce department released a discussion paper seeking whether overseas investment should be allowed in multi-brand retail, indicating that some changes might be afoot.The Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) said that FDI in retail may be a proficient means of addressing the concerns of farmers and consumers.Opening of FDI in retail could also help in bringing technical proficiency to set up efficient supply chains, which can act as models of development.Besides, it would also assist in lowering consumer prices/inflation.The government suggests capping FDI in multibrand retail to a certain extent as also capping a certain amount of the investment for setting up the backend supply chain.Meanwhile, the government is encouraging only serious players in the sector and restricting the likes of FIIs stipulating that a minimum 50 % of the jobs in the sector should be reserved for the rural youth.Making mandatory a minimum amount of packaged goods to be sourced from the SMEs and for a calibrated reform process, the stores should be allowed to come up only in places that have a population of more than 10 lakh people.The Industry Ministry has sought stakeholders'' view by 31st July 2010.Currently, FDI in multi-brand retail is restricted in India. However, the government allows 51 % FDI in single brand retailing and 100 % in wholesale trade.Currently, organised retail accounts for only about 5 %, out of the estimated $450 bn Indian retail sector.There are around 3.5 crore small and medium business units in India of which retail sector constitutes 1.8 crore units. Credit is a major obstacle in growth of franchising.The paper stated that India was losing agri products, fruits and vegetables to the tune of Rs. one lakh crore every year. The establishment of cold chains and back-end infrastructure could cut down the losses by more than half.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Biotech Regulatory Authority bill a huge Step for Future Market Development: Environment Minister

Biotech Regulatory Authority bill a huge Step for Future Market Development: Environment Minister Description  :  Industry Date  :  Aug-19-2010 The Biotechnology Regulatory Authority bill, scheduled to be introduced in Parliament imminently, will not open the floodgates to genetically modified (GM) food. Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh said, "I believe that when the Bill will be introduced, it will address the concerns that have been expressed by the civil society groups that it will open floodgates for all GM foods. Nothing like it". He further added, "It's just exaggerated notion of non-reading of the Bill. Once it is presented in Parliament, we all will see that the integrity of environmental assessment process has been maintained" The Bill seeks to create a new body to regulate research, manufacture, import and use of products of modern biotechnology. The need for a biotech regulator was highlighted during the recent controversy over introduction

Current assets Managements

Current assets Managements - Working Capital Management   These are the assets that are generated during the course of operation and are capable of converting into cash benefits in a given span of time. It's the responsibility of the finance department to ensure that company has sufficient funds to invest in the current assets otherwise it will hamper the ongoing business operations and may obstruct production. Therefore the department should not block funds in un-necessary activities and should ensure optimal utilization of resources and funds

BSLI reports profits worth around INR 9 Crore for Q1 FY 2011

Description  :  Corporate Date  :  Aug-04-2010 For the quarter ending June 2010, the Birla Sun Life Insurance (BSLI) netted a profit of around INR 9 crore. This was the first time that the company reported profits, since the time of its commencement. Last year the company reported a loss of around INR 111 crore. The statement issued by the company said, "Driven by the growing size of in-force book, BSLI achieved a net profit of Rs 9 crore." In addition to this, between April 2010 and June 2010 the company witnessed a growth of around 18% in the total premium income. The total premium income reached around INR 1,143 crore during the same period. Also, during the same period the income from new business premiums reached INR 473 crore, representing a growth of around 7%. Also, the income from the asset management grew by around 44% to reach INR 16,841 Crore during Q1 FY 2011 up from around INR 11,670 crore in Q1 FY 2010. Established in 2000, Birla Sun Life Insurance Com