Prime Minister Dr. Singh,
Yesterday , I attended the meeting of CAIT ( Confederation of all India Traders ), I felt really bad seeing the plight of the traders, and the hell they would be subjected to , should FDI be allowed in India at this point .
Over the last few months, you have rallied all associated departments and ministries to build a case for FDI in retail. I feel sad that you & your government have ignored the fact , that FDI in retail at this juncture will put a big question mark on the means of livelihoods of over a Crore traders in the country .
I have seen that you / your government has been saying that inflation will come down as Wal-Mart , Carrefour , Tesco’s of the world come to India ( Wal-Mart has already come in few years ago ! ).
Prime Minister , remember, that Inflation has not come down despite Wal-Mart being in India . Your government’s logic that supply chain will get strengthened and prices will fall is fallacious . FDI in retail is a wrong justification for strengthening the supply chain , as FDI in supply chain is already allowed, and a lot of wholesalers are already around and more can come in without needing FDI – Why are you fooling around Manmohan ji ? How low will you stoop now to push to agenda of foreigners !!
Even those who are operating Cash & Carry business , are issuing cards to individuals to buy from them, thereby , stabbing the small retailers . Shut down Cash & Carry immediately after a proper investigation . I go to Sam’s Club in the US ( For your information , Sam’s Club is Wal-Mart’s Cash & Carry Venture in the US). Anyone can buy a card for USD 40 and start buying from Sam’s Club. I have gone twice with my friends to Sam’s club and brought goods from the store , my friends are not retailers , but Indian professionals working in the US . So when these retailers do the same in India , what will we do ???
Your government has failed to understand the cause of inflation , and firstly , you said that recession caused inflation ; then recession got over but inflation did not come down. Then you said that irregular and deficient rainfalls are the cause of inflation. Last year , we had good rains and inflation still did not come down. Realizing that there was no answer with your US educated ( read brain washed ) consultants ( Rajan ,Montek, Kaushik & Sam ) , your government said that inflation was due to high growth and it would continue . Study our next door neighbor – China . They have had high growth with less than 5 % inflation !! All your predictions have failed !!
Also remember dear economist, that ‘inflation is reversible but FDI is not’ . What I mean to say is that , when BJP comes to power, it will bring down inflation , but if you permit FDI ( As your government is hell bent on it ) , we will not be able to reverse FDI . So think before -hand !! Don’t jump like the nuclear deal & do another fiasco !!
Sonia Ji is shouting aloud on NAC podium for poor people on one side, and on the other side , both of you have already done a deal with major international retailers , and are hell bent on cracking the back bone of small retailers by allowing FDI
Government has a flawed policy with regards to FDI, as you are saying that you will allow FDI in top 35 towns to start with. This goes contrary to strengthening the supply chain. If you really want to strengthen the supply chain then please ask this big giants to start retail in ‘C’ class towns and then come to B & A class towns !!
Your statement that farmers will get better value because of FDI in retail : Wal-Mart’s of the world are known for extracting even the ‘blood’ of suppliers !! Their labor policy record needs to be closely examined , and how many times they have been fined !
Also, Wal-Mart is failure in Japan ( social dumping & doubts about its quality ) , Korea ( Wal– Mart failed to understand local customers) , Brazil ( Lack of understanding about local culture ) & Germany ( due to cultural insensitivity ) .
I am producing an excerpt from a report
‘Walmartization does not travel well’ Clearly, neither Wal-Mart’s business concept nor its social dumping – the so-called Walmartization – work in developed economies with a social dimension. Many consumers shun the Bentonville giant and prefer to do their shopping in stores where they know that workers are treated correctly and with dignity. There is also more and more uneasiness and suspicion about many of the products sold. Squeezing the last drop from suppliers can hardly promote safety and quality. There is also a growing aversion against buying, consuming and using products which could well have been made under inhuman conditions. That the tide is fast turning against Wal-Mart at home has not gone unnoticed abroad. Consumers start to know that the retail giant denies its American workers their fundamental rights, and many of them vote with their legs, going to other stores if they have a choice. The poor business results in Germany, Korea and Japan should be taken seriously in Bentonville
Another report : This article appears in the November 21, 2003 issue of Executive Intelligence Review. Wal-Mart Collapses U.S. Cities and Towns by Richard Freeman
During the last 20 years, Wal-Mart has moved into communities and destroyed them, wiping out stores, slashing the tax base, and turning downtown areas into ghost-towns. This is accomplished through Wal-Mart’s policy of paying workers below subsistence wages, and importing goods that have been produced under slave-labor conditions overseas. Often, communities will even give Wal-Mart tax incentives, for the right to be destroyed. Wal-Mart both reflects, and is, a major driving force for America’s deadly implementation of the Imperial Rome model. Unable to produce physical goods to sustain its own existence, the United States, like Rome, sucks in imported goods from around the world, using, in this case, a dollar that is over-valued by 50-60%. America has been transformed from a producer to a consumer society.
I believe that Wal-Mart destroyed American Economy and now it is here to kill ours !! Also, since we know that Wal-Mart is a failure in four countries , please produce a report on those four countries .
Also, let us examine that how many small mom & pop stores have shut down with the advent of Wal-Mart in the United States ? Similar study we must do in China .
Let me also tell you why Biyani’s & Ambani’s of the world are wanting FDI ?
Let me ask these retailers one question ? If the retail trade is so good and profitable , why they have the problem in raising money , investing and growing their business – why do they need foreign investment ? The talk that these MNC retailers bring latest technology is also misleading , as Indian retailers are working in a different environment and all foreign CEO’s have been an utter failure so far in India . You can see the example of Reliance Retail ; How many CEO’s have been brought from outside India in the last four years ? I understand that recently a new CEO was hired from Wal-Mart China !! These traders are actually looking at exiting the business by selling their business to these multinationals to make a quick buck !! That’s the real reason they need FDI .
Once FDI comes , farmers will cry for a good deal and Wal-Mart would never give them a fair deal . On one side , farmers are forced to sell land and other side whatever is left with land & cultivation , they would be forced to sell to these MNC chains at a wafer thin margin .
Congress is a killer party for the poor !! Prime Minister Singh , where is your plan to upgrade the current Kirana stores ? Why are you not excited with their welfare . Give them FDI ( Finance from domestic institutions ) , and provide them training .
I call upon Shri Nitin Gadkari , President BJP to stand behind these standalone Kirana store and oppose FDI . We should post pone FDI for another five years and then revisit the issue. A massive peaceful agitation is called for to stop FDI in Retail for the next five years .
Mail is marked to Montek, Raj Jain of Wal-Mart , CAIT and all leading retailers & political parties in India
A Common Man
Rajendra Pratap Gupta
A Common Man's View Point (Blog) 