Posted on 09/26/2012 11:58:38 AM PDT by JerseyanExile
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has defended his economic reforms, saying they are necessary to fight an economic slowdown in India.
The reforms include allowing foreign supermarket giants to buy large stakes in India's retail sector.
They have been fiercely opposed by trade unions and prompted coalition ally, the Trinamool Congress party, to resign from government.
Mr Singh said the changes were needed to revive investor confidence.
"We have to restore the confidence of foreign investors... Money does not grow on trees and that is why we have made these decisions," Mr Singh said in a rare national televised address.
Earlier on Friday, six ministers belonging to the Trinamool Congress party led by Mamata Banerjee formally resigned from the coalition led by Mr Singh's Congress Party.
Under the government's proposal, global firms such as Walmart and Tesco will be able to buy up to a 51% stake in multi-brand retailers in India.
Multinational retailers already have outlets in India, but at present they can sell only to smaller retailers. This decision allows them to sell directly to Indian consumers.
The reforms, which were rolled out last week, also include cutting diesel subsidies and limiting subsidies on cooking gas.
(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.co.uk ...
Somebody in India gets it.
They’re boom over the past decade was due to the fact that they turned from socialism toward capitalism. But in the last year or two they starting regressing. Good to see that they learned some lessons.
Must be nice to have a leader who does not believe that money grows on trees
Well, he and his ministers are most corrupt. More investment means, more money in their own bank account.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.