SENIOR officials of the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) on Thursday held meeting with representatives of e-commerce firms Amazon and Flipkart following a complaint by traders’ body CAIT. Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) Secretary-General Praveen Khandelwal has alleged that e-commerce companies are following unethical business model and are infringing foreign direct investment norms. They have also alleged that e-commerce companies are involved in predatory pricing, deep discounting, loss funding and exclusivity of various products which is not allowed under the foreign direct investment (FDI) policy.
The meeting was chaired by an Additional Secretary-level Officer of the department. Commenting on the meeting, Amazon spokesperson said, “We had open and transparent discussion with Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade officials. We thank the Ministry of Commerce and Industry for the opportunity and we are always available for further engagement as needed.”
In a statement issued on Wednesday, CAIT has stated that realising the impact and importance of the issue raised by it, Union Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal has directed Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade Secretary Guru Mohpatra to call both Amazon and Flipkart to clarify the points. “Instead of playing in a business like manner as obligatory on them as per fundamentals of marketplace model, online retailers are by-passing all such fundamentals and taking advantage of systematic loopholes,” it said.