FDI in retail will create jobs: Shashi Tharoor

Congress MP and former Union minister Shashi Tharoor was all praise for the Union government’s decision to allow 51% foreign direct investment (FDI) in the retail sector. While talking to journalists on the sidelines of the ‘Design for Change’ event organised in the city on Sunday, Tharoor said that he had travelled around the world and there was FDI in the retail sector in every country.

“We should ask why there should not be FDI in retail. In most countries, FDI is a way of contributing to additional employment. The more capital comes in, the more institutions or shops and retail stores are established. You would need more people to run them,” the Congress MP said.

He further said that when there is change due to development, one has to look at the larger good. “It is possible that some people would be immediately affected. But a larger number will benefit,” he said.

He explained that even those who are adversely affected initially would eventually recover, as had been the experience in the West. He said that what small shops can do, big shops can’t because small shops provide more personalised service.

“So the small shops that have been there for generations can also flourish if they have a different approach than the big shops,” said Tharoor.  However, Tharoor’s observations on Team Anna’s agitation were anything but sanguine.