As the FDI was permited in 1990s, our country was on growth. so if this time also FDI is permited with clear regulations, then we may expect some thing good.
sir what will be the consequence of such move by the govt on the economic growth of the company. from the gdp point of view will the country be better off or worse keeping in mind the chunk of population which consists of the middle class
Notwithstanding Dr.Swamy's impressive academic and work credentials, the article was a shabby piece of work without any research basis. Has he bothered to talk to the "ma-pa" retail shops and the 21 million people working in the so called unorganized retail industry. What is wrong with being unorganized anyway, as if it is some kind of sin. Bringing in wal-marts will wipe out small independent traders and turn them into low paid employees of big american corporations, do we really want that. Why doesnt Dr.Swamy go and take up job in a wal-mart and work for an year and live on that income alone and then tell how it is.
The fumings of the learned professor on the swadeshi notwithstandings, a caveat is needed on the current rage towards opening the retail sector to FDI. There is a spate of literature not superficial but from academics and experts on the unlimited power supermarkets pose to the danger of food and health. The Competition Commission in the UK has catalogued a formidable list. Our own minister has talked of the benefit to agriculture but the facts are otherwise.
Of every 1 pound retail price of the Ecuadorian bananas the plantation worker receives jsut 15 pence, whereas the plantation owner receives 10 pence, the trading company 31 pence, the ripener/distributor 17 pence and the final retailer 40 pence.
A CEO of retail trade in India talks of 1 lakh employment being generated but the experience in the western supermarkets is just the opposite. Look also at the criticism mounted at the Wal-Mart -the Leviathan.
Nearer home the coffee grower is committing suicde and the pepper growers are meeting with the same fat. It is no doubt fanciful to ta nof malls and shoooping plazas claiming to be the shopoping plesure
RE:cost benefit
by Jatinder on Feb 27, 2005 09:21 PM
Hey hey hey.... common what a silly question.!!!
The answer is very simple:
Who will benefit?
Of course Wallmarts, Carrefeours and there Chinese manufaturing partners.
Who will lose?
Domestic retailers (Small Bania shop Owners), domestic manufacturers too (who wont be able to compete with the cost benefits of chinese "sweat shops") and off course the sales people that would be employed by Wallmarts (Wallmart has the distinction of having max. number of employee suits in the US itself)
It will kill the enrepreneurial spirit of many indians. If we have some kind of thriving entreprising spirit somehwere in india then its only in the retail sector. We need to strengthen the domestic industry first before throughing the domestic players in front of the big sharks. Our ealrier experience in the manufaturing sector isnt too old. Where are Texla, Bush, Videocons. I love to buy a low cost Sansui/Akai but if I lose my job at Bush then I wont have money to buy that at all
If u have to allow FDI in retail sector u need to a long term plan where you allow expertise transfer first followed by non-imorted goods sale by the foreign players and finally direct FDI.
FDI in retail will just spoil the country with Walmartification. Even the most advanced nations like Germany don't allow 100%FDI in retail. Why India? It won't help the poor. Rather it will help black marketeers and whole sellers..bigger poeple.. Rich becomes richer poor will die
First of all I want to mention that I am a staunch supporter of Globalisation and FDI in India but I am not very sure that this FDI in retail would help the industry as claimed by Dr. Swamy.
Dr. Swamy on the one hand claims that only FDI can help organise our fragmented retail industry but on the other hand he himself agrees that many industries like ready-made garments, hotel/cusine etc. moved towards organised phase without FDI. Then why do you need FDI in retail for this purpose?
Dr. Swamy's claim that Wall Mart helped China in exports because they are in retail in China is completly baseless, because these are two independent things. The fact that they are importing from China for the North American or European markets has nothing to do with thier presence in the chinese retail market. They are importers because china's low cost competencies in manufacturing sector and Wall Mart used to import from China even when they were not present in the retail market there. It can be the real problem for Indian retail market because these companies will flood the retail market with low cost goods mainly from China which will be a dangerous preposition for our domestic manufacturer
Like in Vermont and CA, NYC doesn't want Walmart. Let Subterranian Swamy know this:
... Facing intense opposition, a large real estate developer has dropped its plans to include a Wal-Mart store in a Queens shopping complex, thwarting Wal-Mart's plan to open its first store in New York City, city officials and real estate executives said yesterday....................
....Labor unions fought Wal-Mart with a special intensity because they believe its wage levels and benefits are pulling down standards for workers through the United States.............
..........Small-business advocates declared victory after the decision was made public, but predicted that the battle would resume in other neighborhoods. "Vornado saw the writing on the wall and responded the way a developer needs to when he knows he's holding a losing hand," said Richard Lipsky, a spokesman for the Neighborhood Retail Alliance, an anti-Wal-Mart coalition in New York. "We stopped Wal-Mart this time, but they are going to continue their efforts to open in New York and we will be sure to meet that with significant opposition wherever else they try to locate."........
