Govt committed to retail FDI, Pension Bill: Moily

Mumbai, Jun 8: The

is committed to allowing foreign direct investment (

) in the multi-brand

and is also hopeful of passing the Pension Bill, Union Corporate Affairs Minister

said on Friday.

"We are committed to FDI in retail," Moily said here while talking to reporters after inaugurating a corporate social responsibility (CSR) conclave organised by the Indian Institute of Corporate Affairs (IICA) and Yes Bank. He, however, did not give any timeline.

About the impasse over the Pension Bill, which the Cabinet deferred on Thursday following reported opposition from the Trinamool Congress led by Mamata Banerjee, Moily said the UPA ally has not opposed the Bill but she has "certain issues" with the legislation, which needs to be sorted out. The Cabinet was to take up the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority Bill, 2011, which provides for private sector and foreign investment in pension sector, but put it off without any consideration.

A committee, headed by CII President and Godrej Group Chairman Adi Godrej, has been asked to look into the viability of compulsory sustainability reporting within the formal framework of corporate governance, the minister said. The government will come out with guidelines for CSR shortly, he added. A new institutional mechanism is being established by the Corporate Affairs Ministry in the form of a National Foundation for Corporate Social Responsibility, Moily said. The proposed body will be a division of the Centre for Responsible Corporate Governance of the IICA and managed by a secretariat.

PTI