Trade and industry bodies here have thanked the Chief Minister, Ms J. Jayalalithaa, for her firm stand against allowing foreign direct investment (FDI) in retail trade in Tamil Nadu.

Mr V.S.Manimaran, President, Madurai District Tiny and Small Scale Industries Association, has said that the decision by the Union Government to allow FDI in retail trade in the light of the harmful experience of such a decision in countries abroad, was most shocking. The firm stand taken by the Chief Minister, realising its unsettling effects on the economy, was welcome. Despite this stand, if the Union Government proceeded ahead with its decision of implementation of such a decision, associations would be driven to launch a bigger agitation to negate the move, he said.

The Tamil Nadu Chamber of Commerce and Industry, thanking the Chief Minister for making a categorical statement of not allowing FDI in retail trade in Tamil Nadu with sharp, clear and critical observations based on facts, in a traders' meet held here today, requested the Union Government to withdraw the decision.

It further appealed to the Chief Minister to impress other states in favour of her decision and appraise the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, on the issue. In the light of the stand taken by the Chief Minister, the meet also resolved not to indulge in any agitation either bandh or fasting on December 1 as proposed earlier.

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