New Delhi : The tit for tat policy on economic reforms continues in the political domain. Apparently paying back the BJP for its opposition to foreign direct investment in the retail sector during the UPA regime, the Congress has made it clear that it would not be allowing the changes proposed by union finance minister Arun Jaitley in the FDI regime for at least two sectors — defence and media. Briefing reporters, Anand Sharma said that there is no national consensus on easing of FDI norms in the defence sector, and the party would not support the move as the checks put in place by the party’s government in the past cannot be removed.
He said the erstwhile UPA-II government had increased FDI in defence to 49 per cent but there was a condition that there would be scrutiny by the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) and Cabinet Committee of Security (CCS) approval. Now the NDA government has relaxed foreign direct investment norms in the defence sector by allowing FDI up to 49 per cent under automatic route and beyond that through the FIPB’s approval. It had also done away with the earlier requirement of mandatory permission from the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) beyond 49 per cent. The Congress leader dispelled the notion that these are mere executive decisions that do not need parliamentary approval. “Once the FDI policy decisions are made, it’s mandatory for the RBI to come up with a FEMA notification, which the government is obliged to table in both Houses of Parliament. And Parliament alone will ratify those notifications, both Houses independently,” said Sharma, who is the Congress’ deputy leader in Rajya Sabha. The FDI in multi-brand retail was halted in its tracks during the UPA regime by the BJP’s opposition at the ratification of the notification stage.
He said that the party is looking at the various proposals for FDI in about 15 sectors and would formulate its structured response at a later date but then it is clear that it would oppose the change in the sensitive sectors like media and defence. “Apart from defence, we are equally concerned about the opening up of the media sector, particularly the news and current affairs. In raising the FDI, it shall be opposed. We don’t want to create monopolies, we don’t want foreign media moguls to come and control Indian media, particularly news and current affairs,” he said. He also took a swipe at the government’s style of functioning in this respect. “It was also perhaps the first time such decisions had been taken without cabinet approval, which would be acquired later. After the achievements in Bihar election, and before going to London, the Prime Minister has taken these decisions, perhaps to demonstrate that he has vision,” Sharma added.
