The decision by the government to allow up to 100% foreign direct
investment (FDI) through FIPB in marketing of food products produced or
manufactured in India, including through e-commerce, is very progressive
and will help in reducing wastage, helping farm diversification and
encourage industry to produce locally within the country. This
far-reaching reform will benefit farmers, give impetus to food
processing industry and create vast employment opportunities. We will
study the policy document when government finalises and issues it," said
a Walmart India spokesperson.
The decision comes without any
riders, department of industrial policy and promotion secretary Ramesh
Abhishek said. The food processing ministry wanted the food retailers to
mandatorily invest in back-end infrastructure besides being allowed to
sell some non-food goods.
"This
initiative (FDI in food retail) could bring in investments in food
infrastructure by global players and provide a platform to sell those
products manufactured in India, thus opening up the domestic food
market," said Sreedhar Prasad, partner-e-commerce, KPMG in India.
"Further,
this could enable some of the existing e-commerce players to attract
FDI in food category where they are selling only products manufactured
or produced in India."
The
government expects it to curb food wastage as well, said Abneesh Roy,
associate director at Edelweiss Securities. Food processing minister
Harsimrat Kaur Badal has been seen rooting for FDI in the sector citing
heavy food wastage. She said India has been wasting food and
agricultural produce worth Rs 92,000 crore and foreign funds can build
infrastructure at farm gate level for benefit of farmers.To know details go to our site http://allindiayellowpage.com.