Government wins retail FDI vote in Rajya Sabha

The government on Friday won a non-binding vote in the Rajya Sabha on its new policy to allow foreign superstores to enter the country's USD 450 billion retail market.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's Congress party-led minority government secured the victory after Mayawati's Bahujan Samaj Party voted in favour of retail reform and the Samajwadi Party abstained. The government won a vote in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday thanks to abstentions of the same two parties, but had originally looked set to lose in the Rajya Sabha, where it has fewer parliamentary seats.