The
government claims that FDI in multi-brand retail will bring modern
technology to the country, improve rural infrastructure, reduce wastage
of agricultural produce and enable the farmers to get better prices for
their crops, besides generating employment and bringing down prices. The
government is trying to falsely project that FDI in multi-brand retail
is an essential " reform" to boost the growth rate of the economy. It
is nothing but a fallacious and deceptive propaganda. Evidences from
various parts of the world indicate that widespread emergence of big
format retail super stores opened by multinational retail giants have
led to extensive ruin of retail stores/shops thereby resulting in the
loss of employment and livelihood to millions of persons involved in
retail trade. These multinational retail giants will wipe out many
smaller Indian retailer chains and the small retailers like the kirana
stores, mom and pop stores, provision/grocery shops, hawkers/push cart
vendors and so on. These tiny entrepreneurs will not only lose their
source of income and livelihood, but also their honour and prestige,
once they lose their retail trading occupation due to the competition
from multinational retail giants. Moreover, there is scarcely any
evidence to show that foreign investment, especially FDI, has acted as
an enabling factor for controlling inflationary pressure anywhere in the
world. Similarly, evidences suggest that nowhere in the world consumers
have benefited from the establishment of super stores by multinational
retail giants. In short, FDI in multi-brand retail trade will not serve
any purpose. It will do more harm than benefit the people, especially to
the unorganised/informal retail sector, which is an important source of
employment and livelihood for the multitude unemployed people of the
country, besides being the cushion for those who are displaced for
various reasons from other occupations/employment in the industrial,
agricultural and services sectors.
Dr. C. Murukadas, The Times of India, Oct. 4, 2012
Dr. C. Murukadas, The Times of India, Oct. 4, 2012
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