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InvisibleKrishna
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Bringing in MNCs will boost the numbers, but hurt the people...
    #4441770 - 07/23/05 05:17 AM (18 years, 8 months ago)

Quote:




ZNet | South Asia

Two Reports, One Aim
India's FDI Debate
by Girish Mishra; July 20, 2005

Recently, two reports have come, one from the American consultancy firm A.T.Kearney and the other from the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Government of India. Their aim, however, is the same: paving the way, unmindful of harmful consequences, for FDI (Foreign Direct Investment) in India?s retail trade.

A.T.Kearney?s report is entitled ?Emerging Market Priorities For Global Retailers: The 2005 Global Retail Development Index?. It underlines the growing importance of India for Western retailers. They are told that the ?global retail game is changing.? The focus is not only on Asia but it is also shifting from East to South Asia. India has come to occupy the top position on the GRDI (Global Retail Development Index), computed by A.T.Kearney. India?s attraction to Western retailers is due to many factors.

To begin with, it has a retail market worth $330 billion, growing at an average rate of 10 per cent per annum since the turn of the present century. The consultancy firm has termed it as ?underserved? and ?among the most fragmented in the world; the combined market share of the top five retailers totals less than 2 per cent.? Further, it has described India as a powerhouse in terms of people. In fact, as the forecasts go the country?s population of more than one billion may overtake China?s by 2050. Notwithstanding the fact that more than 30 per cent of the population is below the poverty line, the size, purchasing power and mobility of the middle and upper classes have been increasing rapidly. These, along with the rising pace of urbanization, have been accelerating the pace of the expansion of Indian retail market. Lastly, the recent change in the law has created favourable conditions for the FDI. Earlier, no foreign investor was earlier allowed to own retail business. He could operate only through franchises. The present Indian government is ready to relax the rules to facilitate the entry of the FDI in retail trade, at least to 26 per cent of the total capital of a firm. Maybe, it will be increased up to 49 per cent.

Obviously, Western retailers will be attracted by the proposed legislative changes. A.T.Kearney wants them to ?be quick to take advantage of these more favourable FDI rules. Wal-Mart, Carrefour, Tesco and Casino are among those actively seeking local partners. Foreign retailers currently operating through franchises, such as Marks and Spencer, and the Benetton Group, will most likely switch to a hybrid model. Levi is already taking advantage of shifting demographics and growing interest in branded products, and has laid out plans to build 300 stores in India by 2008. At the same time, leading domestic retailers, such as Pantaloon, Westside, and Big Bazaar are ramping up their business by increasing their scale and enhancing their logistics and technology processes.?

A.T.Kearney has warned international retailers of the difficulties or obstacles present in India. Inadequate infrastructure is the biggest of them. Reliable, regular and sufficient power supply has yet not been guaranteed. The absence of good and safe roads is another big obstacle. It means, 40 per cent of perishable commodities may rot during transportation owing to a lack of refrigerated distribution networks. Besides, Indian market is heterogeneous ?with 28 different states, and a plethora of languages, customs and traditions, developing local market knowledge and choosing the best store locations will be critical. Indeed, India?s retailing landscape has more than 12 million mom-and-pop stores that are not likely to idly watch their businesses erode as foreign companies encroach on their territory. But gaining early-mover advantage could make tackling all of these issues worthwhile.? Thus the advice of A.T.Kearney to foreign retailers is not to have second thoughts and rush in.

The other report, commissioned by the Indian Ministry of Consumer Affairs, as reported by Financial Times (July 15), calls for the immediate opening of country?s $200bn retail trade sector to foreign direct investment despite an opposition by the Left allies. To quote: ?The report? ?strongly advocates? that foreign group such as Wal-Mart be allowed to own 49 per cent of their retailing operations under a phased liberalisation that would lift all capital restrictions within three to four years.? It is argued that by allowing FDI in the retail sector, ?India can protect its fast-growing outsourcing industry from a protectionist backlash in the US that has been given fresh ammunition by news reports claiming IBM is planning to hire 14,000 Indian workers and lay off a similar number in the US and Europe.?

To counter the opposition from the Left, it is being asked: if a socialist country like China can permit FDI in retail trade, why not India? The problem, however, is not that simple. If FDI is allowed, whether putting the cap at 26 per cent or 49 per cent, it will create veritable economic, political and social problems, leading to grave repercussions to the ruling alliance in general and the Congress in particular.

Looking back, one finds that the issue of FDI has been hanging fire for more than a decade. It was in 1993 that Dr. Manmohan Singh as finance minister in the Narasimha Rao government changed the law to allow FDI in retail trade. Dairy Farm, an MNC, was among the first to enter country?s retail sector. This change was, however, reversed by the Dave Gowda government?s finance minister P. Chidambaram. It was argued that the reversal was due to the pressure from the Left. In practice, it did not mean any big change because the foreign retailers, by taking advantage the legal loopholes, took resort to franchise and began doing business through their local agents.

The protagonists of FDI in retail trade advance a number of arguments. They contend that it will go a long way to benefit the fast expanding middle class, which will get quality goods at cheaper rates as costs of holding inventory, distribution and delivery will be reduced. Moreover, since FDI in retail trade will bring here companies like Wal-Mart that will have large stores where consumers will get all the goods needed by them, from medicines, books, vegetables and spare parts of cars to rice, flour, spices and so on. They will have the freedom to look at the goods carefully and compare the prices. These stores can arrange for home delivery and provide for servicing and repair of the durables. If MIT-based Prof. Sanjay Sharma?s innovation RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) is adopted, cash registers and clerks handling them will become redundant and this will lead to a reduction in the expenses which will benefit consumers through reduced prices of goods. It is further argued that the Western retailers entering India will boost India?s export earnings, as they will buy goods from India for their stores in foreign lands. It is pointed out that it is happening on a large scale in China.

As against them, it is argued that FDI in retail trade will have great adverse impact on employment situation, which has been deteriorating for quite some years. At present, 98 per cent of retail trade is in the unorganized sector. It employs 7 per cent of the work force, which in absolute terms comes to 42 million. Most of the retail stores are small ones owned by the families of those running them. They have been engaged in managing them for generations and they know the localities and their inhabitants where they operate. They are also familiar with likes and dislikes of their customers. They are knowledgeable about the festivals and celebrations and the requirements of their customers on those occasions. They also accord the facility of credit. No protagonist of FDI in retail sector denies that it will render a large number of existing workers in retail shops unemployed. Even Thomas L. Friedman in his latest book The World Is Flat admits it. What will happen in the long run is not very relevant in a country like India. Did not Keynes say, in the long run we all will be dead?

With the state withdrawing from its responsibility of providing employment opportunities and selling off public sector undertakings resulting in total or partial reduction in jobs when the record of the organized sector so far as job creation is concerned is quite dismal, the political and social repercussions may be quite serious. Those losing their livelihood as a result of FDI in retail sector do not have special skills nor can they be retrained for other vocations. Even Indian business community has begun voicing its opposition.






from http://www.zmag.org/content/print_article.cfm?itemID=8345&sectionID=32


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OfflinePhred
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Re: Bringing in MNCs will boost the numbers, but hurt the people... [Re: Krishna]
    #4441916 - 07/23/05 07:35 AM (18 years, 8 months ago)

*Yawn*

Another Collectivist rant against free trade. In a country where 30 per cent of the population (according to the author) is "below the poverty line", by all means lets prevent those poor people from having the opportunity to feed and clothe themselves for less, repair their possessions for less, buy books with which to educate themselves for less, buy medicines for less. While we're at it, let's limit retail workers to a "career" in mom and pop shops. Heaven forbid they be given an opportunity to advance to upper management.


Phred


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InvisibleRandalFlagg
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Re: Bringing in MNCs will boost the numbers, but hurt the people... [Re: Phred]
    #4442670 - 07/23/05 11:39 AM (18 years, 8 months ago)

Quote:

Phred said:
buy books with which to educate themselves for less




We must do our best to ensure that they have access to Chomsky's books. It is imperative for their ideological development.

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InvisibleKrishna
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Re: Bringing in MNCs will boost the numbers, but hurt the people... [Re: Phred]
    #4442739 - 07/23/05 11:49 AM (18 years, 8 months ago)

well, while those are valid points you raise, Phred, i don't think the article is just a 'rant' - i think it makes some valid points as well. for example, the farming communities of india have suffered immensely from globalisation.
Both due to intellectual patents

Quote:

Monocultures and uniformity increase the risks of crop failure as diverse seeds adapted to diverse ecosystems are replaced by rushed introduction of unadapted and often untested seeds into the market. When Monsanto first introduced Bt Cotton in India in 2002, the farmers lost Rs. 1 billion due to crop failure. Instead of 1,500 Kg / acre as promised by the company, the harvest was as low as 200 kg. Instead of increased incomes of Rs. 10,000 / acre, farmers ran into losses of Rs. 6400 / acre. In the state of Bihar, when farm saved corn seed was displaced by Monsanto's hybrid corn, the entire crop failed creating Rs. 4 billion losses and increased poverty for already desperately poor farmers. Poor peasants of the South cannot survive seed monopolies.




and subsidies
Quote:

The second pressure Indian farmers are facing is the dramatic fall in prices of farm produce as a result of free trade policies of the W.T.O. The WTO rules for trade in agriculture are essentially rules for dumping. They have allowed an increase in agribusiness subsidies while preventing countries from protecting their farmers from the dumping of artificially cheap produce.

High subsidies of $ 400 billion combined with forced removal of import restrictions is a ready-made recipe for farmer suicides. Global prices have dropped from $ 216 / ton in 1995 to $ 133 / ton in 2001 for wheat, $ 98.2 / ton in 1995 to $ 49.1 / ton in 2001 for cotton, $ 273 / ton in 1995 to $ 178 / ton for soyabean. This reduction to half the price is not due to a doubling in productivity but due to an increase in subsidies and an increase in market monopolies controlled by a handful of agribusiness corporations.

Thus the U.S government pays $ 193 per ton to US Soya farmers, which artificially lowers the rice of soya. Due to removal of Quantitative Restrictions and lowering of tariffs, cheap soya has destroyed the livelihoods of coconut growers, mustard farmers, producers of sesame, groundnut and soya.




i certainly am not against creating a 'global economy' or against 'free trade' as such - however i am against it in the incredibly unfair and inequitable circumstances that the first world is trying to push through today.

(quotations from http://www.zmag.org/sustainers/content/2004-02/19shiva.cfm)


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OfflineBCBudJohn
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Re: Bringing in MNCs will boost the numbers, but hurt the people... [Re: Krishna]
    #4442966 - 07/23/05 12:23 PM (18 years, 8 months ago)

The trickle-down effect is bullshit. All bringing MNCs in does is create an illusion of prosperity, while nothing changes for the lay-man. Profits are shipped to team america, externalities sent to india. Same old..

Bottom line is until fair-trade and human-centered development is realised, understood and digested economoic restructuring will only worsen their situation.


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Peace
John

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OfflineBaby_Hitler
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Re: Bringing in MNCs will boost the numbers, but hurt the people... [Re: Phred]
    #4443190 - 07/23/05 01:29 PM (18 years, 8 months ago)

"Free trade" is a farce unless it is free trade for everyone.


Let's destroy the unfair trade practices of the wealthy nations, like farm subsidies first, then continue this whole "globalization" process from there.

Why should they give up their protection from our unfair practices first?


In the long run, I think opening up the ownership rules so that Wal-Mart, or preferably CostCo can come in and set up shop is a good idea. I just think the timing is bad.


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"America: Fuck yeah!" -- Alexthegreat

“Nothing can now be believed which is seen in a newspaper. Truth itself becomes suspicious by being put into that polluted vehicle. The real extent of this state of misinformation is known only to those who are in situations to confront facts within their knowledge with the lies of the day.”  -- Thomas Jefferson

The greatest sin of mankind is ignorance.

The press takes [Trump] literally, but not seriously; his supporters take him seriously, but not literally. --Salena Zeto (9/23/16)

Edited by Baby_Hitler (07/23/05 01:31 PM)

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OfflineJesusChrist
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Re: Bringing in MNCs will boost the numbers, but hurt the people... [Re: Baby_Hitler]
    #4444986 - 07/23/05 10:37 PM (18 years, 8 months ago)

Free trade benefits India to a great extent today. By breaking down more barriers it will only benefit them to a great extent tomorrow.

When people lose jobs because somebody else can do it more efficiently, it only frees up more labor so that they can concentrate their energies elsewhere.

The point that grabs me is that the retail industry in every country can't be outsourced. If a big discount store were to open up today in India, it would have to be staffed with local people. I certainly won't commute to work the register or stock the warehouse. Just because streamlined and efficient distribution eliminates jobs isn't a reason to rule it out.

As Phred pointed out, what about the consumer? We often focus on the loss of jobs or a mom and pop that went under. What about the rights of the consumer? When left to choose freely, they do overwhelmingly, and that is why mom and pop go bye bye, and the distributor that meets their needs prospers.


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Tastes just like chicken

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OfflineBaby_Hitler
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Re: Bringing in MNCs will boost the numbers, but hurt the people... [Re: JesusChrist]
    #4445284 - 07/23/05 11:52 PM (18 years, 8 months ago)

You don't "free up" labor if you kill your victims.


--------------------
"America: Fuck yeah!" -- Alexthegreat

“Nothing can now be believed which is seen in a newspaper. Truth itself becomes suspicious by being put into that polluted vehicle. The real extent of this state of misinformation is known only to those who are in situations to confront facts within their knowledge with the lies of the day.”  -- Thomas Jefferson

The greatest sin of mankind is ignorance.

The press takes [Trump] literally, but not seriously; his supporters take him seriously, but not literally. --Salena Zeto (9/23/16)

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InvisibleSilversoul
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Re: Bringing in MNCs will boost the numbers, but hurt the people... [Re: Baby_Hitler]
    #4445341 - 07/24/05 12:19 AM (18 years, 8 months ago)

Quote:

Baby_Hitler said:
"Free trade" is a farce unless it is free trade for everyone.


Let's destroy the unfair trade practices of the wealthy nations, like farm subsidies first, then continue this whole "globalization" process from there.

Why should they give up their protection from our unfair practices first?


In the long run, I think opening up the ownership rules so that Wal-Mart, or preferably CostCo can come in and set up shop is a good idea. I just think the timing is bad.



:thumbup:


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OfflineBCBudJohn
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Re: Bringing in MNCs will boost the numbers, but hurt the people... [Re: Silversoul]
    #4445373 - 07/24/05 12:31 AM (18 years, 8 months ago)

I think the well-and good intentions of Walmart are known.


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Peace
John

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OfflineJesusChrist
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Re: Bringing in MNCs will boost the numbers, but hurt the people... [Re: Baby_Hitler]
    #4445407 - 07/24/05 12:44 AM (18 years, 8 months ago)

Quote:

Baby_Hitler said:
You don't "free up" labor if you kill your victims.




Wal Mart opened a store in my town. They killed 337 people in the first year alone. The Congressional Budget office has estimated that Wal Mart had killed 47,000 Americans in the first quarter of 2005 alone.

HERE IS THE LINK!


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Tastes just like chicken

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OfflineBaby_Hitler
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Re: Bringing in MNCs will boost the numbers, but hurt the people... [Re: JesusChrist]
    #4445422 - 07/24/05 12:50 AM (18 years, 8 months ago)

Poor people barely surviving - jobs = dead people.


We arent talking about America where the poor are dying from obesity.


--------------------
"America: Fuck yeah!" -- Alexthegreat

“Nothing can now be believed which is seen in a newspaper. Truth itself becomes suspicious by being put into that polluted vehicle. The real extent of this state of misinformation is known only to those who are in situations to confront facts within their knowledge with the lies of the day.”  -- Thomas Jefferson

The greatest sin of mankind is ignorance.

The press takes [Trump] literally, but not seriously; his supporters take him seriously, but not literally. --Salena Zeto (9/23/16)

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OfflineJesusChrist
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Re: Bringing in MNCs will boost the numbers, but hurt the people... [Re: Baby_Hitler]
    #4445446 - 07/24/05 12:56 AM (18 years, 8 months ago)

Quote:

Baby_Hitler said:
Poor people barely surviving - jobs = dead people.


We arent talking about America where the poor are dying from obesity.




Poor people barely surviving + cheaper food = less death through poverty.

We aren't talking about America where the poor are well feed and are frequently obese. We are talking about benefits to the dirt poor CONSUMERS that need it most.


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Tastes just like chicken

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InvisibleKrishna
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Re: Bringing in MNCs will boost the numbers, but hurt the people... [Re: JesusChrist]
    #4446319 - 07/24/05 09:29 AM (18 years, 8 months ago)

Quote:

JesusChrist said:
Quote:

Baby_Hitler said:
Poor people barely surviving - jobs = dead people.


We arent talking about America where the poor are dying from obesity.




Poor people barely surviving + cheaper food = less death through poverty.

We aren't talking about America where the poor are well feed and are frequently obese. We are talking about benefits to the dirt poor CONSUMERS that need it most.




poor people barely surviving + food on the market that is subsidised and thus much cheaper than they can afford to sell it for themselves + TRIPs that prohibit them from growing the strains of rice that they have grown for centuries + market monopolies that prevent them selling anything but these TRIP protected strains = people without any livelihood = dead people, or at best, 'slaves' to an international market (that at anytime can cast them aside = dead people)


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