Nagpur :-“ The invasion of Indian e-commerce trade by global e-commerce companies by violating FDI policy in retail necessitate immediate roll out of E commerce rules and a well defined e-commerce policy and an empowered Regulatory Authority- said B C Bhartia, National President and Praveen Khandelwal, Secretary General of the Confederation of All India Traders ( CAIT)while addressing a gathering of traders today at Nagpur. It was expected that some concrete announcement would be made in the Union Budget on e-commerce trade but traders across the Country stands highly disappointed because each day the global giants are leaving no stone unturned in capturing Indian domestic trade by their mal-practices.
Bhartia & Khandelwal while strongly pitching for immediate rolling out of E commerce rules under Consumer Protection Act said that the not only the traders are facing huge losses at the hands of foreign e-commerce companies but even the consumers are being cheated on a large scale, which was never the intention of the Government while allowing e commerce in India. They further said that the Indian manufacturing sector comprising of large manufacturing units and small industries is also being greatly harm because these e portals are selling foreign goods on a big scale through their e commerce portals.
Bhartia & Khandelwal has strongly demanded a thorough investigation into the business model of foreign e commerce companies and strict action should be taken against the erring companies who have treated India as a banana republic and the laws as weak.
Both Bhartia & Khandelwal strongly suggested that in the proposed e commerce policy some essential features like Sellers registered on the e portal should not be the related companies of the portal. E- platform entities shall not, directly or indirectly, control inventory of the seller.E commerce companies should not act as a whole-seller to their registered sellers. E-commerce companies should not own brands or create their private label brands. .E Commerce companies should not be allowed to exploit the provisions of FDI policy in Press N0te 2 by registering their affiliate companies on their platform and allowing them to sell 25% of the goods. No e-commerce entity shall act as an inventory-based e-commerce entity. Similarly, no inventory-based e-commerce entity shall register any third-party seller. .Every e-platform must act in a completely neutral manner towards the sellers, consumers and other service providers. E-commerce entities shall provide non-discriminatory services to all its sellers and consumers.
The trade leaders further said that the banks should not be allowed to selectively provide offers/cashback on the marketplace platforms. Marketplace e-commerce companies must carry out strong KYC and due-diligence of sellers before on-boarding them so that they do not end up selling illegal products .Each platform must nominate and publish the complete details about their Grievance Officer, Nodal Officer and Compliance officer. .Each Platform must display complete details of each seller as also country of origin of each product and Data security should also be included in the policy
