"By this policy announcement, Manmohan Singh government has taken the single biggest step of destroying the livelihood of the largest number of people engaged in retail trade in India," the CPI-M Politburo said in a statement.
The government has gone ahead with the move 'notwithstanding the widespread opposition' to FDI in multi-brand retail trade, the party said, adding it would wage struggles "to get this anti-national decision rescinded'.
CPI-M said the rules announced by the government were 'designed to serve the interests of multinationals' like Wal-Mart, TESCO and Carrefour.
The investment floor of $100 million or Rs 550 crore (Rs 5.5 billion) was 'insignificant' for giant retailers like Wal-Mart
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