CCEA approves dilution of safeguards for FDI in multi-brand retail

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) has given its nod for the “dilution” of certain safeguards including relaxing the 30% sourcing norm and doing away with the mandatory 50% condition for backend infrastructure investment which were approved by Parliament while allowing 49% Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in multibrand retail announced in 2012. Though the changes were strongly opposed by theMinistry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) but they were ignored by the CCEA while approving the new norms seeking to attract much needed FDI investments by global retail chains in Multi-brand Retail Trade (MBRT).