The government should come out with a White Paper on foreign direct investment (FDI) in the retail sector. The Paper must list the international retail houses that would be interested in investing in India, their financial strengths and investing capabilities, the kind of investments they would be prepared to make, the total volume of FDI likely to take place in a given time frame, the amount of jobs it would create, the benefits to consumers in the context of reduced prices and so on. Merely stating that it would reduce inflation or would increase jobs and not displace local small shops is not enough. As things stand, it could well be a conduit for the enormous hoards of black money stashed abroad to re-enter the Indian economy in a legal way as FDI in retail.
T T Krishnan, Mumbai
Readers should write to:
The Editor, Business Standard, Nehru House,
4, Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg, New Delhi 110 002,
Fax: (011) 23720201; letters@bsmail.in
All letters should have a postal address and telephone number
