PMO cites reforms record to defend FDI

A screengrab of the PMO's Twitter page.

With the government facing attack over pushing FDI in multi-brand retail, the Prime Minister’s Office on Sunday highlighted the benefits accrued to people because of reforms over last 10 years in various aspects of life.

“More than 77 million households were connected to banking services in a decade. More than 34 million households acquired concrete roofs over their heads. More than 60 million households got new electricity connections just in a decade,” the >PMO said on micro-blogging site Twitter.

It also tweeted that more than 37 million households obtained Liquid Petroleum Gas (LPG) and Piped Natural Gas connections in 10 years.

“Telephony reached 137 million houses in 10 years, the second fastest growth in the world,” the PMO said.

The tweets come in the backdrop of the uproar over the government’s decision to allow 51 per cent FDI in multi-brand retail besides other areas like aviation and broadcasting sector.

Not only the Opposition parties but also UPA constituent Trinamool Congress and parties like the Samajwadi Party and the BSP have opposed the moves.

The Prime Minister had on Saturday said it will take “courage and some risks” to break the policy logjam and strongly favoured higher FDI an FII flows cautioning that growth could slip if adequate actions were not taken.