CAIT to launch nationwide agitation against e-commerce cos from Nov 13
   Date :11-Nov-2019

CAIT has demanded the Government to release draft of National E-Commerce Policy immediately and trade representatives should be consulted before rolling out the draft
THE business community across the country is fully geared up to launch an aggressive nationwide agitation against Amazon, Flipkart and other e-commerce companies which are indulging in circumventing the law and abusing Press Note No. 2 of FDI Policy of the Government. On this, Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) organised a National Traders Conference which was attended by trade leaders of 27 States of the country at New Delhi on Sunday.
 
In the conference, it was unanimously decided to wage a strong fight against Amazon, Flipkart and other e-commerce companies which are bent on destroying the country’s retail business comprising of more than 7 crore traders and distorting e-commerce market of India.
 
B C Bhartia, National President of CAIT said that the war against Amazon, Flipkart and other e-commerce companies will begin from November 13, 2019 and will continue till January 10, 2020. More than 40,000 trade associations across the country will be leading the agitation under the umbrella of CAIT. Prominent leaders of other sectors of retail trade including transporters, farmers, small industries, consumers, hawkers, self employed groups, women entrepreneurs and others who attended the conference also expressed their strong support to CAIT and will to join nation-wide agitation.
 
Bhartia said that the time had come for the intervention of the Prime Minister Narendra Modi for upholding the law of the land and policy. For this CAIT will seek an audience with the Prime Minister on this crucial issue deeply affecting the domestic trade and small industries of the country which are one of the major revenue generators for the Government.
 
The trade leaders said they will not let any other East India Company emerge in the country at any cost and will protect the retail trade of India from onslaughts of e-commerce companies whose malpractices included predatory pricing and deep discounting that proved to be extremely fatal for the retail trade of India. They said that these companies are not conducting any business but indulging into a valuation game on the support of their private equity or venture capitalist investors which are highly distorting the fabric of domestic trade of the country.
Praveen Khandelwal, General Secretary of CAIT informed that the trade leaders have decided to chalk out an aggressive roadmap of its nation-wide agitation which will start from November 13 and will be observed as ‘National Awareness Campaign Day’.
 
Traders delegations from across the country will submit an exhaustive memorandum to all MPs and will demand them to raise the issue in Parliament and urge Government to take action. Also, a ‘National Protest Day’ will be held on November 20. Protest Dharna’s will be organised in more than 500 cities of all States including State capitals. More than 5 lakh traders are expected to take part in protest.
 
A ‘National Protest March Day’ will be organised in more than 500 districts of the country where 10 lakh traders will participate in the ‘Traders March’ and will submit a memorandum in the name of PM to their respective District Collectors. Furthermore, a ‘National Traders Rally Day’ will be organised in more than 1,000 cities of different States. About 20 lakh traders are expected to participate in the rallies. CAIT delegations will also submit a memorandum to chief ministers of all States on the same day.
 
Khandelwal said that in continuation of the agitation a ‘Save Trade- Save Traders Rally’ will be organised on December 11 at New Delhi which will be attended by thousands of traders across the country. The first phase of nation-wide agitation will be concluded with a three days National Traders Convention to be held from January 6 to 8 at New Delhi. It will be attended by trade leaders of 20,000 trade associations.
 
National Governing Council of CAIT in association with other stakeholders will hold a meeting on January 9, at New Delhi. After taking stock of the situation it will decide modalities of second phase of its agitation. The Conference in a unanimous resolution urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal to ensure that law and policy should be equal to all and must be followed in true letter and spirit.“Its a matter of investigation that as to how these companies are able to continue their business inspite of suffering loss of thousands of crores of rupees every year. By offering predatory pricing and deep discounting they are indulging in under valued pricing causing huge GST and Income Tax revenue loss to the Government,” he said.
 
The resolution further said that the Government should immediately order for a closure of e-commerce portals pending an investigation by an independent authority in a time bound manner. The resolution further asked the Government to release draft of National E-Commerce Policy immediately and trade representatives should be consulted before rolling out the draft.
 
CAIT has also demanded that a regulatory authority should be constituted to regulate e-commerce market and should be empowered to take penal action against any entity for violation of the law and policy or adopting any unethical and unfair business practices.