Soon after taking over as the minister for commerce and industry, Nirmala Sitharaman indicated that the government is not planning to allow foreign retailers to invest in the country. Sitharaman, who assumed charge as minister of state (independent charge) on Tuesday, spelled out her plans and priorities for the ministry, in her first interaction with the media. The former BJP spokesperson said that there would be no blanket approach towards the FDI policy. “On FDI there is no blanket approach. It is in a calibrated fashion that we would like to bring FDI,” she said. However on FDI in the multi-brand retail sector, she made it clear that as of now, the party’s position of not allowing it in the sector, prevails. “At this stage, the party position is very clear. We have explained about FDI in multi-brand retail that it probably is not best opened up now, because medium and small sized traders or small farmers have not been adequately empowered . if you open up the floodgates of FDI in multi-brand retail, it may affect them,” she said. The UPA-II government had allowed FDI in the sector in 2012. However, the BJP’s opposition to it and the resultant uncertainty has kept the foreign investors away. So far, only one application, from UK-based Tesco, has been received and cleared by the government.
