News 1 Feb 13 PARLIAMENT APPROVES FDI IN RETAIL

PARLIAMENT APPROVES FDI IN RETAIL

The Indian Parliament has approved the Foreign Direct Investment in retail. FDI in multi-brand retail got the approval of the Lok Sabha on December 5, 2012 as the opposition motion seeking immediate withdrawal of the decision was rejected convincingly as BSP and SP walked out.

While 218 voted in favour of the opposition motion, 253 voted against it in the House where 471 members participated in the voting. The total strength of the House is 545. The House also rejected the motion seeking amendment to the rules notified by the Reserve Bank under Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) to enable FDI in multi-brand retail. While 254 voted in favour of the government, 224 were against.

Members of SP and BSP, with respective strength of

22 and 21, did not participate in the voting as they walked out alleging that interests of farmers and small retailers had been ignored.

This was after a gap of many years that an executive decision of the government was put to vote in Parliament

How MPs Voted in the Lok Sabha

22 members of the Samajwadi Party and 21 members of the BSP walked out

 

•   Total strength of members in the Lok Sabha-545*

•   Total number of members present and voting-471

•   Members absent from the House--29**

•   253 members voted against the motion opposing FDI in retail trade and 218 in favour

* Including two nominated members not eligible to vote.

The Motion in the. Rajya Sabha

The ordeal was over for the UPA government which won the vote on the policy on FDI in multi-brand retail sector in the Rajya Sabha on December 7, 2012 with generous help again from the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and the Samajwadi Party (SP).

Just before the Opposition motion was put to vote, the SP walked out, reducing the effective strength of the House by nine members. The BSP's 15 MPs voted against the motion that 'disapproved' of the government's decision to allow 51 per cent FDI in multi-brand retail sector. The BSP said it backed the UPA to thwart Opposition attempts to demand the resignation of the Manmohan government on the ground that it did not enjoy a majority. The final vote count was 102 in favour of the motion and 123 against.

Now the FDI policy in multi-brand retail having received the approval of Parliament, the way is clear for the government to carry out more economic reforms without any hindrance, though of course public opinion across the board was not in favour of the induction of FDI in retail. Those who oppose the policy are of the view that the implementation of the policy will adversely affect the small retails throughout the country who constitute a sizable part of India's population. The opponents of the FDI in retail also claim that the approval of the Parliament was a manipulated affair by the government since those who supported the policy in the Lok Sabha numbered only 253, 20 members short of the half mark 273. The nation has to wait and watch how things unfold further as the majority of parties in Parliament are against it.