The Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) today tried to persuade Chief Minister Narendra Modi to soften his stand on Goods and Service Tax (GST) in national interest and support Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in the retail sector.

However, Modi, who came to address FICCIs National Executive Committee meet at Mahatma Mandir, remained silent on both the issues.

The Gujarat government has opposed GST in the empowered committee (of state finance ministers). We seek your blessing and support in the implementation of GST. It will help the country a lot, said FICCI president Harsh Mariwala.

Urging Modi to change his stand on FDI in retail, he said, Opposition to FDI has affected Indias image internationally. We urge to allow 100% FDI in single brand and up to 49% in multi-brand.

Gujarats development in the industry and agriculture sectors is really good and we fully support the government of Gujarat and want to be partner in the Vibrant Gujarat Global Investors Summit in 2013, added Mariwala.

Addressing the meet, Chief Minister Narendra Modi called for shifting of headquarters of the Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC) project to Ahmedabad from Delhi for faster development. He said 40% part of the mega infrastructure project falls in Gujarat and the state is proactively developing it. The country needs to focus on development of indigenous defense equipment industry. We as a state are coming out with a special policy on giving incentive for defense equipment industry in state, he said.