CAIT demands ban on Amazon’s e-commerce operations in India

New Delhi: Traders’ body CAIT on Thursday demanded that the government to impose a ban on Amazon’s e-commerce portal and its operations in India, accusing the global e-tailing giant of indulging in predatory pricing, deep discounting and inventory control.

Addressing a press conference, CAIT Secretary-General Praveen Khandelwal demanded an “immediate ban on Amazon’s portal and its operations in India” and an investigation against the company in a time-bound manner.

He also urged the government to probe the business practices of Amazon and Flipkart.

The traders’ body also wrote to Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal in this regard on Thursday.

“Our association has been requesting your good office to take appropriate steps and investigate and penalise the multinational companies like Amazon and Flipkart (Walmart) for the blatant violation and/or exploitation of the loopholes of the FDI policy and the Foreign Exchange Management Act/Rules,” CAIT said in the letter to Goyal.

E-mails sent to Amazon and Flipkart seeking comments for the story did not elicit any response.

The traders’ body further said that during its national convention held in Nagpur on February 8-10 in which more than 150 trade leaders were present, “the inaction of government on this issue was viewed very seriously, and members resolved to go on a nationwide stir if urgent action is not taken by the government”.

The Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) also demanded the government to release a fresh Press Note in place of Press Note No. 2 of FDI policy. It also urged the government to finalise much-awaited e-commerce policy.

“We hope that DPIIT (Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade) will issue the amendments to Press Note 2 of 2018 and plug the loopholes being exploited by these MNCs,” it said in the letter to Goyal.