Latest updates about FDI in India

The Prime Minister will meet leaders from key ally parties this morning in Parliament to gauge their support ahead of a possible vote on his new policy to allow 51% foreign ownership of store that stock different brands. The Congress must have the DMK and Mamata Banerjee on board - both parties have 18 Lok Sabha MPs each. While the DMK has agreed to support the government, Ms Banerjee’s party, the Trinamool Congress, has not changed its mind. Senior TMC leaders like Dinesh Trivedi said this morning that they cannot support a move that will allow international super-chains to sell directly to Indian consumers.
As the government does its math, lakhs of traders are on strike across the country. And Parliament remains paralysed. Both Houses have been adjourned till noon - the eighth day with no business being transacted in Parliament. The government has to either face a vote, or suspend its decision on FDI.
The vote on Foreign Direct Investment or FDI in retail is what the opposition has been pushing for- the BJP’s Sushma Swaraj has said the government does not have the confidence of the House on its reforms in retail. The BJP now wants the vote to follow a debate on an adjournment motion of its choice -the text of which asks for a “rollback” of the government’s policy. Last night, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee called BJP leader LK Advani and offered a one-line adjournment motion; because it did not refer to a revocation of the FDI policy, Mr Advani rejected it. He said the draft of the adjournment motion placed by the BJP is “non-negotiable.” But Mr Mukherjee told Mr Advani that the Prime Minister is not in favour or reversing his decision.
The DMK has already said it will support the government in a vote. Now, the Congress needs to win over Ms Banerjee, the Chief Minister of West Bengal. So far, she has said she wants the PM to ban any FDI in retail because the livelihood of thousands of farmers and traders is at stake.
The Congress has backed the Prime Minister and said there is no question of changing its stand to allow FDI in the retail sector.”The PM has made it clear that it is a well thought-out decision and the party supports it,” said Congress spokesperson Manish Tewari. Commerce Minister Anand Sharma told NDTV, “There is no question of a rollback.”
The half-way mark in the Lok Sabha is 272. With the TMC and the DMK, the government manages 282 votes. Without either of those parties, it drops to 264 votes - which means it loses the confidence of the House on the issue of FDI in retail. The government would then have to withdraw its reforms in FDI; the loss of moral authority would be hugely damaging.