Traders’ body CAIT has released a statement claiming that firms like Amazon and Flipkart and a large number of companies owning brands, particularly in mobile, FMCG, electronics, electrical appliances, footwear, garments and other sectors, and various banks are responsible for price distortion of various products on online portals. It has demanded a high-level enquiry by the Center to probe the unholy nexus of e-commerce firms, companies owning brands and banks. A probe for causing price distortion in the country’s e-commerce market.
Secretary-General of the Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT), Praveen Khandelwal urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to look into the alleged distortions, both in the e-commerce and brick & mortar format of retail by constituting a Group of Ministers. The trader’s body made it clear in the statement that the online companies are exploiting the offline market too. And having separate price policy for both online and offline market is a clear violation of the Competition Act.
The Union Minister Piyush Goyal has said that the government was looking into alleged predatory pricing by Walmart-owned Flipkart and Amazon. But the traders are in no mood of listening and have further criticized the banks giving cashback and various types of discounts for purchasing goods from e-commerce portals by making payments through their respective payment cards. They called this a “vicious nexus” of brands, banks and other service providers who were creating distortion in the e-commerce market. They said they are creating an uneven playing field running contrary to both the FDI policy and the Competition Act.
The traders’ body now wants to meet the prime minister with their concerns. CAIT representatives will be meeting Commerce Minister Goyal, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das, soon to demand justice and seek remedial measures.
