Foreign direct investment -
Multinational retailers like WalMart, Carrefour of France and Metro of Germany already have stores, but they are not allowed to sell to walk-in customers. They deal with smaller retailers, like the family-run shops in most localilities. The government had last year cleared 51 per cent FDI in multi-brand retailers for cities with populations of more than a million. But it had to rollback that decision after huge protests led by allies of the UPA government and the opposition, broke out across the country. 
Importantly - and the government has underscored this provision -  the policy allows state governments to decide whether to allow FDI in multi-brand retail or not. So, the government says, if opposition parties don't want the FDI, they can make that choice.

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