In-principle nod for study on Mumbai-Bangalore corridor

Bangalore: The Union government has agreed in-principle for a feasibility study of the proposed Mumbai-Bangalore industrial corridor, Union Commerce Minister Anand Sharma said on Saturday. Sharma said government was working on terms of reference of the proposed corridor. Speaking to reporters in Bangalore after discussions with Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar on infrastructure projects, he said the Centre had accepted the state’s request to extend the proposed Chennai-Bangalore industrial corridor to Chitradurga. [caption id=“attachment_663887” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Commerce Minister Anand Sharma.[/caption] Buoyed by rapid progress of Delhi Mumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC) project, Finance Minister P Chidambaram had announced in the 2013-14 budget two more industrial corridors between Bangalore and Chennai and Bangalore and Mumbai. He had also said the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) and the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) were preparing a comprehensive plan for the Chennai-Bangalore Industrial Corridor. To a query, Sharma said the fears of Karnataka farmers over FDI in retail were unfounded because the government has allowed organised retail in India for last thirteen years. “I do not know where the fears have come from because organised retail is already in India. You have all the corporate majors engaging in organised retail whether it is the Reliance, the Tatas, the Birlas and Biyanis. Is this a fact or not?” Sharma said 10 states have been notified and for both single and multi brands the Centre is putting a condition that 30 percent of the sourcing should be from MSMEs. Asked how many applications the government has received for FDI in multi-brand retail, he said these were business decisions because they have to look for local partners, which the government could not decide. PTI