Shourie favours FDI in retail

"It will neither reap dividend to foreign retailers nor cause loss to local ones (is se na jyada fayda hoga na jyada nuksaan)," Shourie told reporters.

The former union telecom and disinvestment minister said similar concerns were raised when Reliance Industries and Aditya Birla group had entered the retail sector.

But neither small retailers lost their business nor these two Indian retail companies made hay, while another domestic company, Future Group, was sitting on a loss of about Rs. 5000 crores, Shourie said.

He said "Walmarts/salmarts will make no difference if they set up their business in India," he said.

On the allocation of coal blocks, Shourie though agreeing that CAG's report was substantive about the irregularities in allotment, said that he did not agree with the national auditor's assessment of the loss of Rs. 1.86 lakh crore to the exchequer.