India's Minister Will Be Meeting Heads of Global Retail Chains on June 27

India’s Minister of Commerce and Industry Anand Sharma will be meeting heads of global retail chains on June 27 to address their concerns related to the Government’s foreign direct investment (FDI) Policy in multi-brand retail trading (MBRT).
 
International retail brands that have already shown interest in entering the Indian market have been sent the invites for the Retail Round Table with the Minister.
 
The list of invitees includes 11 global retail chains and 10 Indian firms, according to a Business Standard report.
 
The American companies that are invited to participate in the open house are Walmart, The Kroger Company, Costco Wholesale Corporation, The Walgreen Company, and The Home Depot.
 
Metro Cash & Carry, Schwarz Unternehmens Treuhand, and Aldi are the three German companies that are invited by the Indian Government, according to the report.
 
French supermarket chains Carrefour and Auchan, as well as UK’s Tesco are also likely to participate in the meeting with Mr. Sharma.
 
The ten Indian firms that have been asked to participate in the Round Table are Reliance Retail, Pantaloon, Aditya Birla Group, Bharti Walmart, Tata Group, Landmark, Raheja Group, Piramal, RPG and Subhiksha.
 
The Indian Government gave green signal to up to 51 percent FDI in the country’s MBRT in September last year. However, foreign retailers had several queries and earlier this month the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP), under the Department of Commerce, issued several clarifications, pertaining to the 30 percent sourcing clause, 50 percent investment in back-end infrastructure, etc.
 
The Round Table would seek views of the participants on issues related to implementation of the FDI Policy and address their concerns, if any, Mr. Sharma said earlier this month before leaving on a 10-day trip to Helsinki, St Petersburg, Belfast and London.
 
If the foreign retailers have any other issues in mind, the Indian Government is receptive and it would further bring clarity to the guidelines, because the objective of the policy is to attract FDI, the Minister added.