FDI in retail will create jobs, not kill them: Sharma

Coming out strongly in favour of allowing foreign direct investment (FDI) in multi-brand retail sector, commerce and industry minister Anand Sharma said on Thursday that the entry of global retail giants would help create millions of jobs, and not weaken the unorganised sector as feared.

He said that the department of industrial policy and promotion (DIPP) under his ministry had received all inputs on the position paper floated on the issue, and a inter-ministerial core group will hold discussions on it soon.

''There are sceptics and scaremongers who will say that it (multi-brand retail) should continue the way it is, otherwise there will be job losses. On the contrary, both organised and unorganised retail will grow,'' Sharma said on the sidelines of an India-South Africa business event organised by Indian industry body CII in Johannesburg.

Opening up the sector will allow retail giants like Wal-Mart and Carrefour to tap India's growing retail market, currently estimated at over $400 billion and growing at 13 per cent.

The discussion paper on permitting FDI in multi-brand retail, circulated by the DIPP on 8 July, has received a fair share of criticism from small traders, farmer groups and non-government organisations (NGOs) such as the Bhartiya Majdoor Sangh, Confederation of All India Traders and Kisan Jagriti Manch, which claim that liberating the sector would endanger the livelihood of four crore people directly dependent on retail and 20 crore people indirectly earning their livelihood through it.

However, Sharma argued that "What is produced today by the organised retail industry is sold by unorganised retail. So organised retail will still comprise a much smaller percentage than unorganised retail in villages and small towns."