FDI in retail? After Tesco, India awaits more proposals

Apart from UK-based Tesco Plc, the government has not received any other proposal for investment in the country's multi brand retail sector so far, Parliament was informed on Friday.

"Government has approved a proposal from M/s Tesco Overseas Investment Ltd, a UK Company to carry out the business of multi brand retail trading in India.

"No other application/proposal for investment in multi brand retail sector has been received in Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion," Textiles Minister Santosh Gangwar said in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha.

The extant FDI policy in Multi-Brand Retail Trade (MBRT) stipulates that at least 30 per cent of the value of procurement of manufactured/processed products purchased shall be sourced from Indian micro, small and medium industries, which have a total investment in plant & machinery not exceeding $2 million.

Earlier, the Foreign Investment Promotion Board approved UK-based Tesco Plc's proposal to enter the Indian multi-brand retail segment in joint venture with Tata Group company Trent Hypermarket with an initial investment of $110 million (about Rs 680 crore or Rs 6.80 billion).

Tesco was the first global retailer to apply for multi- brand retailing after the government allowed 51 per cent foreign direct investment (FDI) in the segment in September last year.