CAIT urges PM for immediate action against Amazon and Flipkart over FDI norms violation

Traders body Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) has been, for the past couple of months, relentless in its fight to safeguard retail trade against deep discounting practices by e-commerce companies in India.

In the past couple of months, the traders body has reached out to concern government authorities and ministers to report an alleged violation of FDI policy.

As the response from govt authorities still awaited, the traders body has now knocked the door of Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking his immediate intervention on the matter.

Both Amazon and Flipkart are openly and blatantly violating the FDI policy of the government right under the nose of the government and creating uneven level playing field and unethical competition to destabilise long-standing retail trade in India, said CAIT in the letter.

It demanded inspection into the business models and unfair practices adopted by both the e-comm firms, who despite incurring losses, continue to hold yearly heavily discount laden festive sales and get backing from investors.

Quoting their recently filed financial, CAIT raised questions no actions from tax departments over their alleged abnormal business activities.

It is surprising that though these companies are filing such losses over the years. So far no tax department has ever scrutiny their business models and accounts, it added.

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Two days ago, the traders body had written to Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and Piyush Goyal alleging Amazon and Flipkart of selling goods at much below the market value and denying the government its due legitimate GST revenue.

It also urged for independent auditing of e-comm firms by the govt.

In mid-Oct, CAIT had got assurance from CCI and Commerce Minister against predatory pricing and flouting of FDI policy. Though, both the bodies are yet to take any action against alleged e-comm firms.