With Committee of Secretaries giving its nod for 51 per cent FDI in multi-brand

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retail, the nodal Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion is likely to prepare a Cabinet proposal in this regard soon.

At the CoS meeting yesterday, Cabinet Secretary Ajit Kumar Seth is believed to have asked the DIPP to proceed fast in the issue and prepare the Cabinet proposal as early as possible, sources said.

The proposal for the cabinet clearance would largely be on the lines of the recommendations of the CoS, which include majority stake by the foreign retail giants such as Wal-Mart, Carrefour and Tesco and a minimum investment of $100 million.

While the industry has welcomed the progress on the important reform measure, it wants faster clearance by the Cabinet with support of all the political parties.

"The opposition parties should also come on board and support this as it is a very important reform. Now the Cabinet give its clearance as soon as possible," Secretary General of Ficci Rajiv Kumar said.

Though opening of the multi-brand retail does not require parliamentary approval, it would require a broad-based political consensus.

In the absence of such a support, the opposition parties may attack the government, accusing it of harming interest of small kirana shops, who are the back-bone of the economy.

A foreign retailer will have to commit at least $100 million investment and 50 per cent of FDI component have to be deployed in the back-end infrastructure, like warehousing and cold storage, sources said.

The CoS also recommended that FDI should be allowed only 36 large cities which have population of over 1 million.

Many global retailers like Wal-Mart are waiting in the wings for a full-scale entry into India's multi-brand retail segment, dominated by mom & pop stores. An Icrier report had pegged the size of the sector at about $590 billion.

India has already allowed foreign direct investment (FDI) of up to 51 per cent in the single brand retail and 100 per cent in cash-and-carry format of the business.

The CoS meeting, which was attended by 10 secretaries, rejected a proposal that retail stores with FDI should be asked to sell at least 30 per cent of their goods to small retailers.

The CoS recommendations came after about an year of the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) floating the idea of opening the sector for FDI.