At least three international companies -- Italy's Officina Farmaceutica Italiana, Thailand's Lotus Arts de Vivre and French company Decathlon Sports -- sent their proposals for India foray during this period. After vetting by the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion, the Foreign Investment Promotion Board is expected to consider them.
Since January 2012 when the government notified 100 per cent FDI in single brand retail up from 51 per cent earlier, nine proposals have come in.
Of these, Swedish furniture major IKEA, UK-based footwear company Pavers and US's fashion brand Fossil sought to come on their own with 100 per cent FDI.
While Pavers' application was cleared by the FIPB, IKEA's is still being examined after it was granted a conditional nod to invest Rs 4,500 crore (Rs 45 billion) in November 2012. Fossil's proposal is under process, too.
The other foreign single brand players -- American clothing brand Brooks Brothers and Italian jewellery company Damiani -- want to set up shop in India with local partners.
Both Brooks Brothers and Damiani have got FIPB's green signal.
The application of yet another single-brand player, French cookware manufacturer Le Creuset, is with the government.
Although permission for foreign investment in multi-brand retail was seen to have much greater potential, no international player has filed any application yet in this category.
Multi-brand giants such as Walmart, Carrefour and Tesco have been around in India in the cash-and-carry or wholesale format, which has allowed up to 100 per cent FDI for several years.
Although all three are waiting to set up front-end multi-brand stores in India, they are yet to formally approach the government.
In an interview to Business Standard in September 2012, after the government allowed up to 51 per cent FDI in multi-brand retail, Walmart India president Raj Jain had said that the chain would move the FIPB over the next four to six weeks.
But in the recent months,
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