Multinational retail chains are facing the wrath of international protesters in India even before the country allows the sector to open. Switzerland-based UNI Global Union, an international federation representing 900 unions with members in 140 countries in the services sector, including retail, has stepped up a campaign against multi-brand foreign direct investment in India’s retail sector even as the government seems to have put the matter on the backburner.
Preparing to hold forth on ‘Walmart’s global track record and implications of FDI in multi-brand retail’ in the capital tomorrow, the federation claims it is telling the Indian government to strengthen the safeguards before it permits FDI in multi-brand retail. When asked why the organisation was up against Walmart when there are other international players too waiting to set up shop in India, Christy Hoffman, deputy GS, UNI Global Union, told Business Standard, “Walmart's track record around the world is different than that of Tesco and Carrefour, which is why our report focuses on Walmart.”
She added, “Walmart is 3.5 times larger than Carrefour (a French retail chain). The company is the largest employer in the world with 2.1 million employees and annual revenues in excess of $400 billion. So Walmart is not the same as Tesco (UK retailer) or Carrefour in size, both globally and in India.
UNI Global would release a report on FDI in retail, and is already learnt to have given its input to the ministry of commerce and industry on the matter. Even as Hoffman and her associates expressed concern over the impact that Walmart could have on the Indian retail industry, the American major chose not to react.
Traders’ associations in India, which have been actively agitating against any move by the government to allow multi-brand retail FDI, showed their nationalistic colours today ahead of the UNI Global campaign slated for Wednesday.
A representative of a traders’ association, who did not want to be named, said they, were are not keen on international agencies interfering in internal matters. “Why should any external force come to guide us,” a traders union leader asked.
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Another member of a different association was upset too. “It would make our country the laughing stock in front of the world. We are quite capable of dealing with the matter ourselves,” he said, adding, “They (the Swiss group) would not have anything new to say, we do not feel excited about it.”
But Hoffman argued, “It is important that all segments of the Indian economy are fully briefed on the impact of unfettered FDI in multi-brand.” When asked whether she realised the significance of India allowing FDI in retail to make the sector organized, Hoffman replied, “we are not experts on the ability of Indian companies to access capital. However, the principles of modern retail are understood by Indian retailers.” On whether the organisation had ever reached out to the international giants including Walmart, she claimed, “Walmart had rebuffed past efforts to talk”.