Economic commentator and Editor of Thuglak magazine S. Gurumurthy said he is not in favour of allowing foreign direct investment in any kind of retail, as it is a very important source of employment in India which produces entrepreneurs.
“Organising retail trade would destroy entrepreneurial capability generation of India, and I am against it,” he said replying to a query on government’s decision to permit 100% FDI in single-brand retail and relaxation of 30% local sourcing norms for the first five years.
Mr. Gurumurthy was speaking on ‘Economy and budgets, conflict and convergence’ at an event organised by the Tamil Nadu State Council of The Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI).
“Indian business starts with retail. And Nadar community in Tamil Nadu has 75% of wholesale and 60% of retail trading under its control. I don’t think any of IIM, IIT could have done this,” he added.
Mr. Gurumurthy also pointed to an example of textile entrepreneurs in Tirupur and how they started as cotton growers and slowly moved up the value chain to ginning, spinning, weaving and knitting. “It is only by doing a person learns. In 30 years, cotton growers became world class knitters,” he said.
Mr. Gurumurthy said both the budget proposals on the health insurance scheme and giving minimum support price (MSP), 1.5 times of the production cost to farmers are deliverable, contrary to the perceptions.
On the MSP and the promise of doubling farmers income, he said with the help of technology and initiatives like cluster agriculture development, those promise are achievable.
