Well-known chartered accountant S Gurumurthy has criticized the government over its decision of opening the retail sector to foreign direct investment (FDI), saying India needed foreign currency and not foreign investment.

Participating in a debate organized by Rotary Club of Nagpur Ishanya and Swadeshi Jagran Manch on Tuesday, Gurumurthy alleged that the government opened the domestic retail sector to foreign investors just to save the United States.

Speaking on the topic, he added, "WalMart will be the lone beneficiary by becoming a 'middleman' between producers and retailers. The amazing part is that the government is announcing FDI in retail when many foreign cities are either not allowing WalMart or terming it as slow death of retail."

He cited former chief economic advisor to the government of India Shankar Acharya's article, in which he had estimated that India received merely 1.20 per cent of total investment through FDI route between 1991 and 2011.

He claimed that those estimates had already proved that the country's gross domestic product (GDP) increased without foreign investment.

Gurumurthy, who came in limelight after giving a clean chit to BJP President Nitin Gadkari in the dubious funding of Purti group of companies, even questioned whether foreign investors had money to invest in India.