Centre Trying to Build Consensus on FDI in Retail: Pranab

Kolkata: Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said the UPA is trying to build a consensus on contentious issues like Goods and Services Tax and FDI in retail which faced strong opposition from Mamata Banerjee. "We are working to build a policy consensus on a number of pending issues such as introduction of Goods and Services Tax, further liberalisation of FDI, including in retail, and deepening and strengthening of financial markets for long term investments," Mukherjee said at a programme. Last year Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee had stalled the UPA government's effort to bring in FDI in retail. On the current global economic crisis, he noted India's success in surviving the turbulence, saying, "As one of the largest and among the most dynamic emerging economies, India has demonstrated its resilience and capacity to overcome adversities in its development path." "The fact that India has not gone through any financial turbulence as a result of the earlier phase of financial deregulation is a testimony to our consistent view that reforms in global standards have to be adapted to local conditions," Mukherjee said. He said at a function that the 'shocks' the world's economies suffered indicated shifting balance in the global economy, and which also presented new opportunities. He also gave credit to the economic reforms initiated in the early 1990s, saying it has produced good results for the Indian economy.