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Obama: India Limits FDI, needs reform !

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Washington: Noting that India prohibited foreign investment in too many sectors such as retail, US President Barack Obama today cited concerns over deteriorating investment climate there to endorse another “wave” of economic reforms.

Still sounding positive about Indian economy, “which continues to grow at an impressive rate,” he said that to some extent, India’s slower growth is a reflection of the larger slow down in the global economy.

The US President answered a wide range of questions on the state of the Indian as well as global economy, Indo-Pak ties and American strategy in the Asia-Pacific region during an interview to PTI here.

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Obama was careful not to be directly critical of the negative investment climate in India but cited the concerns of the American business community to make his points.

Many in the American business community, “one of the great champions of the US-India partnership”, have expressed concerns that the investment climate in India is deteriorating, he said.

“They tell us it is still too hard to invest in India. In too many sectors, such as retail, India limits or prohibits the foreign investment that is necessary to create jobs in both our countries, and which is necessary for India to continue to grow,” Obama said.

Refraining from prescribing any solutions for India’s economic difficulties, the President said, “it is not the place of the United States to tell other nations, including India, how to chart its economic future. That is for Indians to decide.”

Obama noted that “there appears to be a growing consensus in India that the time may be right for another wave of economic reforms to make India more competitive in the global economy.”

Obama then went on to add, “and as India makes the difficult reforms that are necessary, it will continue to have a partner in the United States.”

“It is important, though, to put this in the context of India’s incredible growth and development in recent decades,” he said.

The President pointed out that India had lifted tens of millions of people out of poverty to create one of the world’s largest middle classes.

“Indian innovation is an engine of the global economy. And even with the recent challenges, the Indian economy continues to grow at an impressive rate. The Indian people have displayed a remarkable capacity to meet India’s challenges,” he said.

Describing Prime Minister Manmohan Singh as “my friend and partner with whom I have worked closely”, Obama said he valued the insights of the Indian leader at various international fora including the recent G20 meeting in Mexico.

He said at the G20 they agreed that one of the best things they could do to get the global economy growing faster was to renew the focus on growth and job creation in their own countries.

“That’s my priority in the US. Of course, one of the most effective ways we can create jobs is to continue expanding trade and investment, including between the US and India.”

The President said they need to keep strengthening the pillars of the long-term economic vitality and competitiveness, including the education of the people of the two countries, science and technology, and the modern infrastructure that allows them to move goods and services faster.

“We need to keep up the fight against corruption, which stifles innovation and is one of the biggest barriers to job creation and economic growth around the world. These are some of the things we can do together as global partners,” he said.

Obama said one of the reasons why he valued the G20 was that it was the only place where leaders of the world’s largest economies — developed and developing — can come together and address the economic challenges that affected everyone.

Right now, he said, the global economy continued to face a number of challenges. Global growth, including growth in emerging economies like India, has slowed.

The situation in Europe has, of course, been a concern, Obama said. The G20 summit in Mexico was therefore an opportunity for them to hear directly from European leaders on the progress they were making and on their next steps.

The President said, “In our global economy, we can’t just have a few leaders of the most advanced economies making decisions that touch the lives of billions of people around the world.

“That’s why we made the G20 the leading forum for global economic decision-making, to give developing and emerging nations, like India, a larger voice. It’s why we increased the role of India and other emerging economies in international financial institutions. These institutions are stronger because of India’s active participation.”

Obama said he believed that the European leaders grasp the seriousness of the situation and were committed to holding the Eurozone together with the steps they have taken in the recent weeks.

“All of us have a profound interest in Europe’s success and the US will continue to support our European friends as they work through this challenge.”

India limits foreign investment, needs economic reform: Obama | Firstpost

Somebody must tell Mamata, BJP that they are stopping India's development progress !! We need another 1991 like moment !!
 
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Obama have cleared the air on all the S&P downgrade and everything else by making this statement!!I get it now,it's the FDI in retail the Americans are after!!They are hungry for the buying power!!:police:
 
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Obama have cleared the air on all the S&P downgrade and everything else by making this statement!!I get it now,it's the FDI in retail the Americans are after!!They are hungry for the buying power!!:police:

Once India Allows FDI In Retail, It will allow Walmart and other US Companies to do business in India. New Jobs would be created in US...
 
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Once India Allows FDI In Retail, It will allow Walmart and other US Companies to do business in India. New Jobs would be created in US...

How will that be? Jobs will be created here!! Remember that the deal contains that 50pc of the products must be compulsorily bought in india !!!
They will have to import some other items from japan, china ,EU and lastly from US...
US pc maybe around only 15 pc gain in terms of jobs and exports...
 
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India needs reforms, no doubt about it, but in which sector the FDI should be increased is the debate.
The Airline Industry and some excotic industries like Auto - Car sector can be opened for full FDI, but Retail I am not sure.
if FDI is opened for retail, a lot of small shops will be out of business and our basic needs will entirely depend on forign companies.
This is like allowing East India company again, but it wont be in our favour as it will push us to the extinct that we will allow mono-poly to the forign companies
 
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India needs reforms, no doubt about it, but in which sector the FDI should be increased is the debate.
The Airline Industry and some excotic industries like Auto - Car sector can be opened for full FDI, but Retail I am not sure.
if FDI is opened for retail, a lot of small shops will be out of business and our basic needs will entirely depend on forign companies.
This is like allowing East India company again, but it wont be in our favour as it will push us to the extinct that we will allow mono-poly to the forign companies

So what do you think we should do in currnt situation where these so called Kirana shops are expoliting the farmers and poor supply chain management is causing the bigger loss...
 
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We need reforms, especially for back office works in retail like food supply chain and giant food storage capacities.
 
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So what do you think we should do in currnt situation where these so called Kirana shops are expoliting the farmers and poor supply chain management is causing the bigger loss...

Well said. Did not want to sound cliche but here is something I posted in similar thread yesterday.

India is second largest producer of fruits and vegetables but does not have facilities to store them and so farmers is taking the hit now as they could not reach distant market. This would mean many of these produce perish and farmers are not benefitted by it. Large retail stores can offset this wastage as they can bring in cold storage facilities and allow more efficient distribution of fruits and vegetables.(India has cold storage facilities today but is inadequate).

The mom and pop stores does not have technology to improve retail supply chains and so create artificial demands and price rise today on various products. Why do customers have to pay high prices for inefficiencies in today's retail market?


middlemen benefit the most today as opposed to farmers - it will improve the profit margin for farmers while keeping the price competitive for customers. So these two groups will get benefitted.

All these have contributed to food inflation. Allowing retail will offset the inflation.


And lastly, FDI is needed to offset negative balance of trade as we import lot more than we export.

So the question is impact for 4 crores of Indian population vs rest of the 100 odd crores.
 
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Dont let Obama's negative impression in India and our ego come in the way of the actual story ....

the truth of the matter is FDI has created 10 jobs back in india for every 1 created back in US Or EU .... remember the days when India used to stand in queues applying for only available government jobs ...to the present system where its private companies providing most of the jobs and creating the huge middle class population whihc is driving Indias growth story today ...

All this has been possible by increase in FDI investments and the direct and indirect benefits it brings to the economy and society on the whole !

Lets keep the Mamatha's ,Leftists etc at bay and hope for further reforms including FDI in retail and aviation .... :tup:
 
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Obama have cleared the air on all the S&P downgrade and everything else by making this statement!!I get it now,it's the FDI in retail the Americans are after!!They are hungry for the buying power!!:police:


Why do you think they were helping you to create a large middle class, for the love of India??
 
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Well India is a agriculture and small industry based economy. And we do know how many hands work in-between for the cereals and vegs to reach from the farm to our local store,and they live on that income. Walmart is a huge company with huge brains behind them and our small time buisness owners with no such luxury will lose out for sure, ultimately resulting in dollars being craved outta India and market prices to be under their control because after Walmart more will follow from round the globe. Remember,FDI in various sectors were allowed in 1991 not before and as a result today we have Maruti,Hero,Mahindra,HCL,TATA etc fighting effectively with global brands for market share.Now is just not the right time for FDI in retail,give our players a chance to succeed,improve small scale industries, bring in more modern from Israel for agriculture so taht they can compete,ADVISE WALMART AND LIKES TO INVEST IN OR THROUGH INDIAN PLAYERS AS OF NOW,and assure them FDI after 7-8 years if all this are done.Simple.Everything must be done at a proper time,if reforms of 1991 were done in the seventies or early eighties we now would have been a no player from Indian companies side.
 
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