CAIT calls for early roll-out of government e-commerce policy

By

Isabelle Crossley

Published
Sep 28, 2020

The Confederation of All India Traders has asked the central government to ensure an early rollout of its e-commerce policy and prevent business malpractice by the country’s e-commerce giants.

 
In its recent appeal to the Union Government, CAIT said that India’s e-commerce ecosystem has been greatly damaged by the business practices of the large companies that dominate the market, the Press Trust of India reported. On Sunday, CAIT urged the government to protect small traders through its upcoming e-commerce policy, stating that large businesses are directly harming local traders.
 
The traders’ body stated that the e-commerce policy is especially needed now as lockdown has led to an increase in online sales and increased the importance of online business in general. 

The government released its draft e-commerce policy in 2019 and had previously stated it plans to release the official policy this year. CAIT has called for a regulatory authority to be created alongside the policy to ensure that businesses adhere to the e-commerce regulations.
 
CAIT also recently voiced its criticism of the government’s new Food Safety and Standards Authority of India regulations which it said will harm India’s small businesses on its Facebook page. CAIT opined that the new rule, prohibiting the sale of unhealthy foods to children near schools, will cost kirana store owners 75% of their business. CAIT also wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to ask him to restructure India’s retail trade to better support Indian traders.