Bharat Bandh Today! But What About Retail FDI?

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Article first published as The Indian Retail Not For Sale on Technorati.

The government of India’s decision to allow 51% Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in the Indian multi-brand retail sector has led to a virtual ‘no sales’ politically for eight days on a trot and for the real markets today.

The much awaited winter session of Parliament could not function for eight consecutive days four of which have gone to the FDI implosion. The political protests inspired more than fifty million Indian traders go for a Bharat Bandh (a general strike call to shut down markets all over India). The major trade unions as well as the opposition political parties extended support to this protest closure.

The din of politics is not letting anyone to listen to the economics. Like in the India-US 123 Nuclear Deal outrage three years back when hardly anybody read the content of the deal document, this time around too ‘no sale’ ignorance rules the roost.

Like the FDI puzzle the Bandh call has got a mixed response...

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