Foreign food retailers may soon be allowed to sell personal care products made in India up to 25 percent of their total merchandise sales. India’s Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion has for the first time endorsed this proposal. The idea behind the move is to encourage “organized” (mass market) retailers to source goods made in India.
The excerpt below is from an interview that India’s commerce and industry minister Nirmala Sitharaman had with the Economic Times:
Economic Times: On food retail, are you looking at allowing more products? Could we see some announcement soon?
Sitharaman: There is a lot of discussion on it. We are already talking about what is grown and [can be] value added in India. The food ministry is saying that you would need something more to attract consumers. He would want to buy other things as well, like cosmetics.
While a political consensus needs to be reached for further opening of the retail sector, the government is also examining the proposal of opening up Foreign Direct Investment for all goods manufactured in India.
