Just to be pedantic: I don't think it's literally free, it's subsidized. "Companies could buy directly from the farmers": this has nothing to do with FDI in re

Just to be pedantic: I don't think it's literally free, it's subsidized. "Companies could buy directly from the farmers": this has nothing to do with FDI in retail. Indian companies are free to do so already. The reason it isn't happening has probably to do with small landholdings, bad public infrastructure like roads, electricity etc. Hence it probably makes sense for somebody to specialize in aggregating the output of multiple producers (aka middleman). Also transport of goods within India isn't friction-free (AFAIK agri. products can't be transported across states w/o a permit). Yet another opportunity for specialization aka middleman. These things won't just go away because FDI is allowed in retail. YMMV.