FM briefs party MPs on FDI in retail, blackmoney, inflation

Briefing party MPs about FDI issue and government's steps to check blackmoney, inflation, Finance minister Pranab Mukherjee on Wednesday said the move to allow 51% FDI in retail will help contain inflation and bridge gap between farm-gate and retail prices.

Briefing party MPs about FDI issue and government's steps to check blackmoney, inflation, Finance minister Pranab Mukherjee on Wednesday said the move to allow 51% FDI in retail will help contain inflation and bridge gap between farm-gate and retail prices.

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Commerce minister Anand Sharma will brief the party MPs in detail on FDI on Thursday, as Mukherjee mainly concentrated on the other two issues in the Congress Parliamentary Party meeting on Wednesday morning.

Mukherjee told the MPs that FDI in retail is one of the measures that will help bring down prices by checking the huge differences between the farm-gate price of a product and its wholesale and retail prices.

In the one-hour long briefing, Mukherjee apprised the party members in detail about the steps taken by government to check the outflow of blackmoney to tax havens abroad.

He also told them why it was not possible to accept the opposition demand to make the names of such account holders public.

Mukherjee said that government is bound by international agreements and making their names public right now will obstruct the inflow of further information regarding it, sources said.

After the meeting, law minister Salman Khurshid downplayed party MP Sanjay Singh and Kerala PCC chief Ramesh Chennithala's opposition to FDI, saying there was nothing wrong if Congress members want to contribute to the over-all debate on FDI issue.

On if he endorses the remarks of the Congress MP on FDI on Tuesday, he said, "If I agree with his point of view, I will not be in the Cabinet."

Mukherjee addressed the MPs after a meeting with Congress president Sonia Gandhi at her 10, Janpath residence in the morning.