CAIT demands early introduction of e-commerce policy

The Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) recently urged commerce minister Suresh Prabhu to introduce the e-commerce policy at the earliest, as the confederation apprehends vitiation of the domestic market by e-commerce portals through ‘predatory pricing’, ‘deep discounting’ and ‘loss funding’ during the festive season beginning October 15.

CAIT national president B C Bhartia requested Prabhu to restrict preferred sellers of e-commerce companies to sell products on e-commerce portals, according to a news agency report.

The government has already issued a first draft of the e-commerce policy and a panel of secretaries is examining that.

Provisions on data localisation should be part of the policy to check unauthorised infiltration of goods through e-commerce, said CAIT secretary general Praveen Khandelwal.

The proposal to allow up to 49 per cent foreign direct investment in inventory model-based businesses must be scrapped and it amounts to ‘backdoor entry’ of multi-national companies in retail trade, Khandelwal added.