The union commerce and industry minister, Mrs. Nirmala Sitharaman said that the BJP government will not entertain any foreign investment proposal in the multi brand retail sector.

She told Rajya Sabha on August 13 that the government has, however, not made any move to roll back the policy approved by the UPA government that allows foreign direct investment in multi-band retail to the extent of 51 per cent.

The mandate given to this new government at the centre was on the basis of the manifesto and the manifesto very clearly said that “we do not entertain FDI in multi-band retail, Mrs. Sitharaman said in response to a question. Only British retailer Tesco has announced 110 million US dollar investment in partnership with Tata Group’s ‘Trent’ to open front end stores in Maharashtra and Karnataka.

On the likely move on scrapping the policy, the minister had earlier said, “no action yet. Status quo remains. Since no application has come, there is no hurry for us to address the issue. If an application comes then we will take a call.” The government last week, allowed upto 100 per cent FDI in railways infrastructure and upto 49 per cent in the defense productions.

On steps taken to boost FDI, she said various set ups are in place to attract foreign investment. These include five joint commissions with Hungary, Poland, Sweden, Belarus and Libya and CEOs form with nations like Japan, France, Russia, Malaysia and South Africa.

India has also signed BIPA with 83 countries and CEPA with 9 countries, she said.