-The Indian Express FDI in retail will bring competition to non-tradable services, and make Indian firms globally competitive India removed barriers to trade in goods in the 1990s. Removing protection brought global competition and raised productivity. But introducing global competition in services is harder. In certain services that are tradable, like legal or financial services, the removal of trade barriers can introduce competition and increase productivity. But these often involve complicated and...

-Outlook The government has not made any assessment on presumptive losses following the CAG report on the 2G spectrum issue, Parliament was informed today. "No assessment of the value of presumptive loss caused to the nation after the publication of CAG report in 2G spectrum matter has been made by the Government of India," Minister of State for Finance Namo Narain Meena said in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha. To a...

-PTI Bharti Walmart, the Indian arm of the US retail giant Walmart, on Wednesday said the allegation that routine US lobbying disclosures reflects improper conduct on its part in India are false. "This disclosure has nothing to do with political or governmental contacts with Indian Government officials," a Bharti Walmart Spokesperson said in a statement. The disclosures to US regulators showed that company's business interests in India was discussed with American officials along...

-PTI Amid controversy over reports that Walmart spent nearly Rs. 125 crore for lobbying with legislators to get access to the Indian market, the U.S. has said the global retail giant did not violate any American law as far as the matter is concerned. “On the U.S. side, I don’t have any reason to believe that we have a violation of U.S. law here. With regard to the Indian side, I’ll refer...

-The Hindustan Times With UPA 2 having carried the day on the motions disapproving foreign direct investment (FDI) in India’s multi-brand retail trade sector, the crescendo for a fresh round of GenNext reforms has reached a higher pitch. The editorial in this newspaper titled The slog overs have begun (Our Take, December 10) states, “Now that FDI in retail is through, the UPA must push ahead with other reforms.” The Congress-led coalitions...