尽管担心就业损失 印度仍向外国零售商开放

In India, the government hopes that its decision to allow foreign retailers into the country will bring in billions of dollars of investment, create millions of jobs and modernize India’s retail sector.

印度政府决定允许外国零售商进入本国市场，并希望这一决定能够带来数十亿美元的投资，创造数百万个就业机会以及使印度的零售业现代化。不过，反对党正在抗议这一行动，称担心这会造成就业损失。

India's Commerce Minister Anand Sharma says the government has built in safeguards to protect farmers and small shopkeepers while allowing the entry of foreign retailers like Walmart and Tesco into the country.

印度商工部部长夏尔玛说，政府在允许沃尔玛和乐购(Tesco)等外国零售商进入印度的同时，已经建立了保护农民和小店主的利益机制。

Foreign retailers have been given the green signal to invest up to 51 percent in multi brand retail, such as supermarkets. Foreign companies can now invest up to 100 percent in single brand retailers.

外国零售商已获得绿色指示信号，向多品牌零售店、比如超市投资最多51%的股份。外国公司目前能够向单品牌零售店投资最多100%的股份。

The new foreign superstores will be allowed to set up shop in cities with a population of at least one million. They must invest at least $100 million and half of this would have to be invested in rural infrastructure and refrigerated transport and storage. Thirty percent of their produce would also have to come from small and medium enterprises.

印度将允许这些新的外国超市在人口至少100万的城市设立店铺。他们必须投资至少1亿美元，其中一半资金必须投资于农村基础设施以及冷藏运输和储存设备，而且30%的产品必须来自于中小企业。

Global retail giants have waited for years for India to open its $ 450 billion domestic retail market, which is still largely dominated by mom and pop stores. But the government hesitated due to fears that the entry of foreign supermarkets will wipe out local livelihoods.

全球零售巨头多年来等待印度开放其4500亿美元的国内零售市场，现在印度的零售市场大体上仍由小零售店主宰。但是印度政府对于开放零售市场曾经犹豫不决，因为担心外国超市的进入会毁了当地店主的生计。

A day after allowing foreign direct investment or FDI in retail, Commerce Minister Anand Sharma tried to calm such concerns.

在作出允许外国直接投资于零售业的决定一天之后，印度商工部部长夏尔玛设法平息这样的忧虑。

“This step which we have taken is an investment in the present and the future of this country," he said. "This will help immensely India’s farmers. It will help in creating jobs both in manufacturing as well as in the agro and food processing sectors. It will bring in enormous amounts of FDI into this country to build the infrastructure.”

夏尔玛说：“我们采取的这个步骤是对这个国家的现在和未来的一种投资。它将非常有助于印度的农民。它将有助于创造制造业以及农产品和食品加工业的就业机会。它将给这个国家带来大量外国直接投资，用于建造基础设施。”

Over the next three years, Sharma said foreign retailers could help create up to 10 million jobs, many of them in rural areas. He says the establishment of cold storage facilities by these retail chains will improve India’s decrepit infrastructure which results in up to 50 percent losses of fresh produce.

夏尔玛说，在今后三年中，外国零售商能帮助创造最多1000万个就业岗位，其中许多是在农村地区。他说，这些连锁零售商建立的冷藏设施将改善印度破旧的基础设施，这些破旧的基础设施造成新鲜蔬果的损失，最高可达50%。

He also says farmers will benefit immensely by getting higher prices. At present they get a fraction of the price paid by consumers due to the presence of several middle men in India’s antiquated retail supply chain.

夏尔玛还说，农民们将从更高的收购价格中极大受益。目前他们只能获得消费者支付价格中的一小部分，因为印度过时的零售供应链中存在着多层中间商。