Chanakyan on FDI in Retail

There has been much debate all over the Country and the Parliament is stalled without transacting any Business on the emotional question of FDI in Retail. It is time for Chanakyan to tell the world about what are his views.

“Technological Revolution”

To start with, I would like to brand those who are against FDI in Retail (FDIIR) as “Selfish” and “Anti-Hindu” and “Anti-India”. For, FDIIR is going to change the way we live and we die. Let us analyze FDIIR in detail. There are around 4 Crore (I would like to use the Indian term, instead of Millions and Billions) Kirana shop or friendly neighborhood Annachi Kadai. They are available in every nook and corner of our cities and towns. They are basically run by poorly educated semi-literate people. They cannot bring in more investment to the benefit of the customer. What the FDI will bring in is Technology that will transform the way we Indians shop tomorrow. All said and done, even though Indian Software engineers are considered the best in the world and in demand even in the US, unfortunately, when it comes to Supply-Chain Management or Logistics, our Indian techies are like Somali Pirates, crude and primitive. Yes, the technology for Logistics is much more complicated than Super-Computers or ICBMs. Believe me when I say this. Otherwise, why our netas should tell us FDI would bring in technology, as if we can’t create it.

So, the first reason for Chanakyan supporting FDI is that it would bring in technology, which our poor Indian techies are not capable of developing on their own (Its altogether a different matter that all the Mega-stores in the US and Europe are managed by Indian Software. Indian software can run on US & Europe Machines, not on bloody Indian Machines, keep in mind).

“Anti-Hindu”

When I say “Anti-Hindu”, Chanakyan has a point. “Sarvai Jana Sukino Bavanthu”, “Loka Shemam”, these are the things we tell every now and then. Does it mean welfare of only Indians? Or does it mean only your family? How can you be so selfish? Don’t these words denote the welfare of the entire Universe?

I will explain now. How long the Indian Government can work for the upliftment of Indian Poor alone? Isn’t it time that we devote our attention on the upliftment of the poor of other countries and continents? To begin with, Chinese workers, American farmers, European elders and Italian poor.

When the restriction of 30% procurement from Small and Medium Enterprises was revealed, it was clarified that it is not restricted to Indian SMEs and it referred to Global SMEs. Now, only China is in the forefront of a manufacturing economy and it is supplying to the entire world. Thanks to the double-dip recession in US & Europe, Chinese industries are finding it tough to market their products and there is a possibility of lay-off of Chinese workers. Being a benevolent neighbor, it is our responsibility to help China. So, letting in FDI will help Chine workers.

European elders were taken for a ride by the financial greed of the US capitalists and they have lost their entire savings with no chance of recovery. When we let in FDI, then they will have a chance to make some profit through investments into these mega-stores. Imagine the plight of a poor elderly couple in Switzerland, without heating in Winter. Have pity on them.

Now, Indian consumers have better choice of fruits and vegetables, imported from US, which have heavy subsidy on them. So, we will have cheaper and better vegetables. Thus, it will save the US farmers, who are already reeling under a severe recession.

How it will the Italian poor, I leave it to the imagination of the readers.

So, when you oppose FDIIR, you go against the very essence of Hinduism. Anybody in BJP & RSS listening?

Anti-India

Now, I will explain how it is “Anti-India”. FDI will reduce the cost for the customers, in the long run, by half. I am not exaggerating, over a period of time, we will have all our merchandise at half the prices of today.

The minimum amount a Mega-store has to bring in is $100 Million. In today’s exchange rate, it is Rs.500 Crores. If they are to set up shop in at least 5 cities, then investments in each of these would be around Rs.100 crores. Now, taking into account interest burden and return to the investors, they would expect a profit of at least 20%, to break even at the earliest. This works out to around Rs.2 Crores per month. If that is to be the profit, then the turnover in the initial periods with a margin of 10% should be Rs.20 Crores. Now, the average spending of a family of 5 in India is around Rs.4,000/-for what we call groceries alone. So, to achieve a turnover of 20 Crores, there should be a customer base of 50000 families in a city. The average size of a family is 5, then it means around 2,50,000 people should patronize these mega-stores. This is a cool 25% of the population of a city eligible to have a mega-store.

On an average, every Kirana shop caters to around 200-250 people in an area, as you can see from the proliferation of shops in every nook and corner of our cities. In other words, 1000 such shops have to be closed down so that one mega-store can thrive and make profit.

Every such shop employs around 4 to 5 persons, including the owner. As I said earlier, they are semi-literate. So, around 5000 such persons would become jobless and their family members of around 25000 would come to the roads. This is a case with just a single shop. If each city has 4 such shops, then you are talking about 1,00,000 people. If you take into account all the 53 cities, then it is 53,00,000 people.

In effect, four such mega-stores is enough to wipe out the Kirana shops in big cities and displacing lakhs and lakhs and rendering them jobless and futureless. Now, what about the people who depend on them for their livelihood? Barbers, Cobblers, Farmers, Tailors, Weavers, Textile Industry and so on and so forth? Their livelihood also would be reduced proportionately. This would start a cascading effect. More and more number of people would be deprived of their livelihood, or reduced living conditions, which would result in severe malnutrition and child-mortality rate. It would also force more and more people, like farmers of Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra, to commit suicide. So, in another 5 to 10 years period, we would have a compact and manageable population. How sweet it would be to have a population of just around 50 crores. We would have enough space, what we produce would be more than sufficient for our needs, when we have a surplus in production of anything, the cost would dramatically reduce, less pollution, the real estate would be affordable and what not.

For so many years, right from “Garibi Hatao”, we have been fighting to eradicate poverty from our nation. Now, with one master-stroke, we would be eliminating the poor from our country, at the same helping the poor in other countries.

In Mahabharat, Vidhura says, for the sake of one family, one person can be sacrificed, for the sake for one street, one family can be sacrificed, for the sake of one town, one street can be sacrificed and now our netas would tell you that for the sake of one country, half the country can be sacrificed and not only that, it is for the sake of other countries also.

So, if you manage to survive, then you would have plenty to indulge in this country, if you are less fortunate to end your life, unable to fight it out, then you will have a place in the Swarg, which would be eternal. Because, you have sacrificed your life for the sake of your brethren in other parts of the Universe. What else can be a glorious sacrifice? Yudhishtra’s act of taking pest from a dog and taking in into his body pales into insignificance before your sacrifice.

Now is the time for every Indian to voice their support for FDI In Retail and herald into a Glorious India, without Poverty & Poor.

Jai Hind.