INVC,,Haryana,,
Haryana Chief Minister, Mr Bhupinder Singh Hooda has hailed the decision of the Union Cabinet to liberalise Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in Multi-Brand Retail Trade and has congratulated the Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh for his bold initiative. This would benefit all stakeholders, specially the farmers and the consumers and would attract investment in Haryana which accounts for 44 per cent of the NCR area and offers a huge market, he said. Mr Hooda said that the farmers would be greatly benefited from direct purchase of the produce by the retail chains at better prices. The State Government has already introduced enabling provision in the Punjab Agricultural Produce Markets Act to facilitate introduction of supply chain and to develop network of agri-produce collection centres close to the farms where necessary infrastructure can now be developed in PPP mode enabling the private sector to directly purchase from these centres. Mr Hooda appreciated that adequate safeguards have been kept in the FDI policy to safeguard the interest of small retailers. He said that the liberalisation would benefit the consumers and the purchasers against seasonal fluctuations and aberration in prices of agricultural products, specially vegetables and fruits with the development of supply chain infrastructure. The investment in the back-end infrastructure would not only give remunerative prices to the farmers but would benefit the rural economy as a whole and generate large employment for the rural population. The Chief Minister said that the investment in organised retail trade by foreign investors would also bring in the latest technology in establishment of cold chains, preventing wastage of food due to lack of post-harvest infrastructure. The opening up of the retail trade would also boost investors’ confidence in the Indian economy and would give necessary impetus to the economic growth of the country.
