In a veiled warning to potential foreign investors,the BJP Saturday highlighted the risks involved in investing in multi-brand retail sector,which the Centre has opened to FDI.
The implementation of this earth-shaking reform is to be decided by the states. We are going to have elections in Rajasthan and Delhi. An efficient company like Walmart has said it will take 18 months to come to India. What if the government changes? What is the certainty the new governments will continue the policy on FDI. I guess investors will remember this, former finance minister and senior BJP leader Yashwant Sinha said.
The veiled warning,coming as it does from a party that is in power in nine states,is significant as it could deter potential big investors.
Sinha said he expected the potential investors will be aware of the implications of political realities arising out the loopholes in governments decision to allow FDI in retail.
This FDI in multi-brand retail is so full of holes,so full of problems that I am not sure which investor will take the risk to invest, Sinha said,faulting the governments FDI in retail policy.
He charged the UPA of painting rosy picture but failing to deliver,saying that the government promised nuclear power for electricity to every household at the time of Indo-US nuclear deal but failed to get any additional power from the deal.
Sinha made light of the governments projection of its tough decisions,saying the governments decisions were not reforms at all.
For this government,reforms mean foreign investments and foreign investments alone, he said.
Sinha alleged that Prime Ministers alleged mismanagement of the countrys economy over last eight years has given rise to a situation where the government is relying on FDI alone to ward off the economic slowdown. We could have thought of accepting (these decisions) had the Prime Minister accepted that they have mismanaged the economy in last eight years (of UPA rule), Sinha said.