A well-designed foreign direct investment (FDI) policy should have resulted in a rush of much-needed foreign investment to India, upgrading of the supply chain, modernisation of the retail sector, as well as more choices for consumers with lower prices. Instead, FDI in retail, like in higher education, has been a non-starter, hopelessly mired in special-interest politics. The rules are so onerous that a mass retailer such as IKEA will find it hard to meet them without penalising customers with higher prices and lower choice