Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) requested PM Modi on Thursday that the Ministry of Commerce should not budge against any pressure or defer or extend the stipulated date for implementing the FDI policy nor bring any change in it.
‘In the larger interest of the Country and the economy, we request your good self to kindly direct the Ministry of Commerce not to budge against any pressure and do not defer or extend the stipulated date of February 1, 2019 for implementing the policy nor bring any change or amendment in the policy,’ CAIT said in its letter sent to the Prime Minister.
In wake of hard pressure tactics of Walmart, Amazon & others to defer implementation of FDI policy in e Commerce, the CAIT sought the intervention of Prime Minister Narendra Modi through a letter sent to him.
Issuing much-desired clarifications in FDI Policy in e commerce vide Press Note No.2 issued recently will prove to be much beneficial not only to about 7 crore small businesses in both offline and online but in long term will also be benefitted to the consumers of the country, CAIT National Secretary General Praveen Khandelwal said.
‘It is appreciated that the Government has recognised the illusion created by global e commerce players in the Country and under the garb were indulging into all kinds of malpractices including predatory pricing, deep discounting, loss funding and exclusivity which covered the e commerce market into an uneven level playing field devoid of any fair competition.
‘However, we have been compelled to seek your kind and immediate intervention in the matter since it has been observed that several global e commerce players in association with vested interest Chambers & organisations are using all kinds of pressure tactics to halt the clarification issued by the Ministry of Commerce so that they may continue with their sinister game of unethical
business practices to the much disadvantage of crores of people of the country,’ the letter stated.
For past many years, these e commerce players were circumventing the spirit of the policy by
using artificial companies on their portals for influencing the price of the commodity.
Millions of families of small businesses have been greatly disrupted due to unethical business practices of such e commerce players and many retailers had to shut their shops and huge job loss happened in the retail sector.
The recent clarification in the policy will enable millions of traders to return back to business and crores of families who have been adversely impacted economically, will again be able to conduct business in a fair environment, it said.
The CAIT suggested that an Independent Regulatory Authority for E Commerce should be constituted to regulate and monitor the e-commerce trade which should be duly empowered to take action against any entity which defy the policy.
E Commerce Policy which is long-awaited should be framed and declared immediately without taking much time, the trade body suggested.
The FDI norms as spelled out in the policy should also be made applicable on domestic e commerce players as well to restrict them from adopting any unethical business practices and remain at par with other e-commerce players.
The e-commerce players should be directed to obtain a Compliance Certificate for every financial year for complying the norms of the policy and those who are not able to obtain it, should not be allowed to raise funds and the operations of their portal should be suspended, the CAIT said in its suggestion. (UNI)
Commerce Ministry should not budge against any pressure in FDI policy, CAIT requests PM
