Union Minister for Commerce Anand Sharma on Saturday said the Centre had given an in-principle nod for a feasibility study of the proposed Mumbai–Bangalore industrial corridor and extended it up to Chitradurga.
Mr. Sharma, who discussed with Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar about infrastructure projects, said the Union government was working on the terms of reference of the proposed corridor.
Speaking to presspersons, he said the UPA government had accepted the State’s request to extend the proposed Chennai–Bangalore industrial corridor to Chitradurga.
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Union Finance Minister P. Chidambaram announced in the 2013–14 budget two industrial corridors — one between Bangalore and Chennai and the other between Bangalore and Mumbai.
Mr. Sharma said the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) and the Japan International Cooperation Agency were preparing a comprehensive plan for the Chennai–Bangalore Industrial Corridor.
To a question, he said the fears of Karnataka farmers over FDI in retail were unfounded.
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“I do not know from where the fears emanated because organised retail is already in India. You have all the corporate majors into organised retail, whether it is the Reliance, the Tatas or the Birlas.”
Mr. Sharma said 10 States had been notified, and for both single and multi brands the Centre had put a condition that 30 per cent of the sourcing should be from MSMEs.
On how many applications the government had received for FDI in multi-brand retail, he said these were business decisions because they had to look for local partners, which the government could not decide.
The Centre has approved 63 proposals for FDI in single brand retail so far.