New Delhi: Taking a dig at the BJP, former Finance Minister P Chidambaram on Tuesday said that the party which had opposed FDI in retail was now relaxing the rules.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Chidambaram said, should recall what he had tweeted on December 5, 2012. Will the BJP tell us what it had said when FDI was first allowed in retail, he said.

Chidambaram said that Modi in December 2012 had said, “Congress is giving nation to foreigners. Most parties opposed FDI but due to sword of CBI, some did not vote and Congress won through backdoor”.

He was reacting to the government's decision to liberalise FDI norms in 15 sectors, including retail. The government relaxed the FDI policy norms for the single brand retail trading (SBRT) and permitted 100 per cent foreign investment in duty free shops.

The Commerce and Industry Ministry said in a statement that it is seen that in certain high technology segments, it is not possible for retail entity to comply with the sourcing norms. To provide opportunity to such single brand entities, it has been decided that 'state-of-art' and cutting edge technology' sourcing norms can be relaxed subject to government approval.

It has also been decided that an entity which has been granted permission to undertake SBRT will be permitted to undertake e-commerce activities. Further, it said that a single entity will be permitted to undertake both the activities of SBRT and wholesale with the condition that conditions of FDI policy on wholesale/cash & carry and SBRT have to be complied by both the business arms separately.

PTI