What will be the fate of FDI in retail in India?

Today, Winter Session of the Parliament has begun and alonwith with it the final countdown has also started for the fate of the UPA government's bold decision to permit FDI in retail in India.

During the last few weeks, even the parties that supporting the UPA government - either from inside or from outside - have on several occasions voiced their dissent to the government's decision to allow FDI in the retail sector.
The Manmohan Singh led government has been trying at all steps to build consensus over the issue, but as it seems it has not been very successful. An apparently scared government has accepted to a discussion in parliament without voting on FDI.

This Winter Session is going to decide not only the fate of the FDI policy of the UPA government but also the every existence of the government. Mamta Banerjee's Trinamool Congress has already moved a no-confidence motion in the parliament.

Update:

Mamta's Trinamool Congress did call for a no-confidence motion, but it was not allowed because the party could not muster the required numbers.

FDI put on hold!!

It appears that the Union Cabinet has put the decision of FDI in retail on hold, for now i.e. the MNCs like Wal Mart will have to wait a little longer before being able to set store in this India.

The Government of India which is currently a coalition government is once again on the backfoot. It has once again had to roll back a decision taken by the its biggest coalition member - the Congress Party. This was conveyed to the media by Ms. Mamta Banerjee, the supremo of the Trinamool Congress.

She said

"Pranabda sought our opinion on the issue and we told him that the Trinamool Congress remains firm. He informed me that the cabinet decision on FDI entry in retail will be suspended until and unless a consensus is evolved"

The government has had to face the ire of the people and a very stiff resistance from the opposition parties. Even some of its allies, including the Trinamool Congress, were against it on issue of FDI.


The traders in the country had called for a nation-wide one-day bandh on the 1st of December, a call that had received overwhelming support from traders across the length and breadth of the country.

All-in-all, the end result is that the government has finally given in to the public demand and put FDI in retail on hold.