A rollback or dilution of the policy is not the only fear these multinationals have; they are also facing upfront political opposition.
Giving a sense of things, a senior executive at a foreign retail chain told Business Standard that phone lines in many of the embassies were constantly ringing.
Countries with interest or presence in India are anxiously watching the developments around FDI in retail.
They are keeping in touch with the various trade chambers and multinational companies to get a blow-by-blow account of the political developments.
There's reason.
French retailer Carrefour, which had last week expressed its commitment to multi-brand retail, had to shut shop for several hours immediately after launching its Jaipur cash-and-carry store on Monday.
Agitation by Opposition parties prompted the retail major to down shutters at its Jaipur outlet, its second in India, even though 100 per cent FDI has been allowed in the cash-and-carry segment for almost a decade now.
An industry representative pointed out that the distinction between cash-and-carry (wholesale) and multi-brand front-end stores is getting blurred in the minds of agitators.
"All they can think of is foreign companies
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