Farmers are joining India Inc in mind, body and spirit. In a quiet revolution underway across the countryside, growers are setting up companies, replete with balance sheets, professional CEOs, board of directors, and income tax returns. By pooling together the land and produce of their shareholders, these companies are signing lucrative deals with large retail chains, food companies and exporters keen to establish reliable supply chains. As many as 200 companies...
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FDI in retail can enrich 650 million Indians for inclusive growth
-The Economic Times The entire political opposition to allowing overseas investment in retail is focused on the assumed plight of traders and small merchants in India. How about consumers, who outnumber sellers by many multiples? And what about farmers, the bulk of India's population? The idea of organised retail is to get quality stuff to buyers at reasonable prices. To do that, retailers employ technology, storage and logistics to cut overhead...
More »Enter, farmer with an FDI query by R Suryamurthy
Farmers, a holy-cow constituency considered more valuable than small traders to the political class, have begun to ask uncomfortable questions to those opposing foreign direct investment (FDI) in retail. Several farmer groups, some of them led by politicians with ties to the Congress, have asked why some parties are standing in the way of a measure that is expected to reduce the clout of middlemen and increase farm earnings. Although Prime Minister...
More »Embattled Patel General Stores by Ajit Balakrishnan
The battle for India’s retail market is being fought not just in the halls of Parliament and on the front pages of newspapers but also on the little stretch of road near my home in Mumbai, where Colaba Causeway peters out into Navy Nagar. The outsize name board, “Patel General Stores”, had proudly announced itself for as long as I can remember. Recently, however, I noticed that the board had been...
More »FDI in retail: Farmer bodies throw their weight behind retail FDI by Sutanuka Ghosal & Nidhi Nath Srinivas
Large farm lobbies are backing the government's decision to allow foreign supermarkets to set up shop in the country, saying it will shorten the supply chain and get growers a larger share of the final selling price. Most farmers, however, want the government to go a step further and make it mandatory for retailers to buy 75% of their produce directly from farmers, bypassing the restrictive 'mandi' auction system. "Traders and middlemen...
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