Single brand retailers may invest USD 40 bn in India: Sharma
Bangalore, Mar 15 : Union Commerce Minister Anand Sharma today expressed satisfaction over the interest shown by retail majors after the country's opened the gates for FDI in single brand and said so far 63 proposals have been received and all of them approved.
Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of an interaction programme with stake holders of the sericulture industry at CMTI campus here, he said the players whose proposals were approved is expected to result in more than USD 40 billion in investments flowing into the country.
'The approval of 63 proposals is not a small number. They are all global majors,' he stressed.
He said out of these players, Swedish furniture maker IKEA has been the biggest so far and it had already sourcing close to one billion euro worth of material from India.
Despite severe opposition from different quarters, the UPA government had opened up the single brand retail market for FDI in the country with an aim that these majors would source raw material and agricultural products that would benefit a large sections of the society.
'Most of these 63 single brand retailers already have their sourcing bases here and this will increase manyfold,' he said.