Opposition lawmakers staged protests in India's parliament on Monday after reports that retail giant Walmart had been lobbying with US lawmakers to facilitate its entry into India. In a disclosure to the US Senate, Walmart said it spent close to 25 million dollars on lobbying activities, including on the issues related to "enhanced market access for investment in India,", according to media reports.
The development triggered a new controversy in India, coming after parliament last week approved allowing foreign direct investments (FDI) in the country's supermarket sector amid much opposition. The upper house or Rajya Sabha was repeatedly stalled by lawmakers from the opposition Bhartiya Janata Party before it was adjourned for the day. "Walmart in its lobbying disclosure report has said it spent 25 million dollars on lobbying. In 2012 alone, they spent 3 million dollars in India," BJP leader Ravishankar Prasad said.
"Lobbying is illegal in India. Lobbying is a kind of bribe. If Walmart has said that tens of millions of rupees were spent in India, then it is a kind of bribe." "Government should tell who was given this bribe. This raises a question mark on the implementation of FDI in retail," he said. MPs from other opposition groups demanded that the government halt the retail reforms and launch an independent inquiry into the case. Opposition parties say the move to open up retail markets would hurt manufacturing and threaten livelihoods of millions of small store owners. The government maintains that the reform would promote economic growth and create jobs.
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