Foreign investment norms for retail to stay: Kamal Nath

August 7th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Kamal Nath said on Friday that the country has enough foodgrain reserves even in the worst monsoon situation. Nath, however, expressed his concern over the adverse impact of poor monsoon on agricultural activity.

July 22nd, 2009 NEW DELHI - Funding will not be a problem as India gets ready to execute over 150 projects worth some $70 billion to spruce up its network of highways and roads in the next three years, said Road, Transport and Highways Minister Kamal Nath here Wednesday. The minister, who is personally overseeing all road shows to attract money for one of the country's largest public-private initiatives on roads and highways, said speedy development of this infrastructure was a priority for the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government.

July 14th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Acquisition of land remains the biggest challenge in road projects development, Road Transport and Highways Minister Kamal Nath said here Tuesday. "When I look at the challenges ahead I feel that today land acquisition remains the biggest challenge for road construction," Kamal Nath said while addressing a conclave on highways development.

July 14th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Union Road Transport Minister Kamal Nath on Tuesday said that the Cente has plans to set up an organization to develop and manage expressways in the country. "We are looking at setting up an Expressway Authority in the same line with NHAI (National Highway Authority of India) but distinct with the specifics with only building expressways.

July 14th, 2009 NEW DELHI - A separate authority will be constituted soon for expediting development of expressways, Road Transport and Highways Minister Kamal Nath said here Tuesday. I am examining the possibility of setting up an expressway authority, Kamal Nath said at a conclave on national highways.

July 7th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Union Transport Minister Kamal Nath said on Tuesday that the government wants foreign investors to fund as much as half of the 20 billion dollars, which it has earmarked for road building in a year. Kamal Nath said he has plans to meet with investors from Europe, the United States and Asia, including Hong Kong and Singapore, in the next two or three months to discuss which financing platforms would be most effective.

May 29th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Road Transport and Highways Minister Kamal Nath Friday said regulations covering India's road network will be overhauled even as he promised to change the physical landscape of the country's transport infrastructure in due time. "We need to look at the old regulatory framework in an entirely new way and that will call for a complete change of mindset.

May 25th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The Congress-led coalition government at the centre may not offer any further fiscal stimulus as the mounting fiscal deficit has left little room for more such measures, a senior cabinet minister said here Monday. I don't know whether the fiscal deficit we have has left any room for another stimulus...

May 22nd, 2009 NEW DELHI - Congress leader Kamal Nath unwittingly injected humour into the sombre swearing-in ceremony of the new government Friday when he began to take his oath before President Pratibha Patil could prompt him, and then started walking off without signing the register. Perhaps a little too eager to be sworn in as minister, Kamal Nath walked up and said in Hindi 'Main Kamal Nath' much to the amusement of the gathering at the Rashtrapati Bhavan.

February 16th, 2009 NEW DELHI - India Tuesday notified the detailed norms on what constitutes foreign equity in companies that operate in sectors with a cap on overseas investment, after the cabinet rationalised the procedures last week to attract more foreign capital. A press note issued by the commerce ministry says foreign investment of any form in a holding company - equity, preference shares, investments by foreign funds, convertible bonds, American depository shares or global depository receipts - will be considered foreign equity.

February 12th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The new foreign investment norms will not extend backdoor entry for foreign retailers, Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath said Friday, defending the clause that does not count minority overseas stake in a holding company as foreign equity. The minister said there was no change in India's retail trade policy that permitted foreign equity only for single-brand companies and cash and carry wholesale businesses.

February 11th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The government has rationalised the foreign investment norms as there is a tightening in the global markets, Commerce Minister Kamal Nath said here Thursday. 'Government has rationalised calculation of FDI (foreign direct investment).

January 30th, 2009 NEW DELHI - A 'disciplined' private sector and an 'aspiring' middle class are the engines of India's economic growth, and will help the country weather the tumultuous times, Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath said Saturday. 'India's aspiring middle class has demonstrated surprising resilience in counterbalancing the global credit crisis and slump in the global export economy of which India is a key player,' the minister said at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

January 18th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Commerce Minister Kamal Nath continued to maintain that the Rs.70 billion fraud at Satyam Computer Services was a 'one-off delinquency', though Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has called it a 'blot' on India's corporate image. 'One cannot smear the Indian corporate sector.

January 18th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Maintaining that India will grow by at least 7 percent this fiscal, Commerce Minister Kamal Nath Monday said the government was considering another stimulus package to pump prime the economy. Addressing the 'Partnership Summit 2009' of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) here, the minister said the falling inflation rate, now at a little over 5 percent, would help unveil another package.