Retail FDI protests false drama: India Inc
Expressing concern at the stalemate in Parliament, India Inc’s prominent leaders said today that “opposing investment in modern retail for the sake of it is only defending vested interests to the detriment of the vast majority”.
In a strongly-worded joint statement, HDFC chairman Deepak Parekh and Rajya Sabha MP and former Hindustan Unilever chief Ashok Ganguly said: “The farmers, consumers and common people must raise their voices against this false drama of apprehension against investment and modernising trade in agriculture and consumer goods.”
They said a slowing economy seems “to pale in comparison to the larger crisis at hand — that of a Parliament that is completely unable to function in the way these sacred institutions were set up to be”.
They gave a call to “the saner sections” of Corporate India to “come out and strongly support progressive measures and reforms with the same spirit and gusto with which we take the liberties to criticise policies or issues we do not appreciate”.
They added that while “a democracy encourages openness and permits dissent, perennial disarray and disruption is sacrilegious.”
