Retail FDI supported by farmers, will benefit them and consumers: Manmohan Singh

A day after winning Parliament's approval for allowing FDI in retail, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today voiced confidence that it will benefit farmers and consumers and introduce new technology and investment in marketing agricultural produce.

He also said that the decision to allow FDI in retail was "strongly supported by farmer organisations in Punjab."

"It (FDI) will introduce new technology and investment in marketing agricultural produce.

India must take full advantage of modern technology and operational and management experience of big supply chains in the food retail business to make this happen," Singh said speaking as a chief guest at Punjab Agricultural University's golden jubilee function here.

"I am confident that it will benefit the farmers, and the consumers and our country," the Prime Minister said.

The government had yesterday won the approval of Parliament to its controversial decision of allowing FDI in multi-brand retail with a motion against it being defeated convincingly in Rajya Sabha, as BSP voted in favour of UPA.

123 members had voted against the motion while 109 voted in favour after a debate during which the Opposition had attacked the proposal to allow 51 per cent FDI in multi-brand retail, while the government had strongly justified it saying it was in the best interest of the country.

Speaking at the University, Singh asked leading farm varsities like PAU to gear up to meet the existing and future challenges in the agriculture sector.

The Prime Minister touched on a range of issues facing the country's agriculture from over-exploitation of ground water to crop diversification and how PAU could help India tackle the challenges of future.

He noted that some of the crops are perishable and therefore pose special post-harvest handling and marketing problems which affect farm incomes.

"Agricultural supply chains in India are highly fragmented and inefficient, leading to losses to both producers and consumers.

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