India is moving quickly on a plan to open its $450 billion retail sector to global players such as Wal-Mart , the country's industry secretary said on Wednesday, in a sign the government may be pressing ahead with a key reform.
It is not the first time the government has vowed to speedily allow direct foreign investment in the Asian giant's modern supermarkets. But concerns about job losses and wrangling over infrastructure investment have sparked worries the reform is on the backburner.
Foreign retailers such as Wal-Mart, Carrefour SA, Tesco Plc and Metro AG see India's 1.2 billion population as one of the world's last largely untapped markets. "Please don't ask me for a timeline, but we are proceeding very fast," Industry Secretary R.P. Singh told Reuters in an interview. "It's certainly not on the back burner."
The move is seen by many in government as crucial to tame high food prices, but the plan has not yet been approved by the cabinet, with job-loss concerns ahead of state elections next year and a general election in 2014 slowing policy.
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