CAIT urges government to rollout e-commerce policy immediately

By

Isabelle Crossley

Published
Jan 5, 2023

The Confederation of All India Traders and a group of other related organisations have urged the Union Government to rollout its E-commerce Policy immediately to ensure that the country’s fast growing e-commerce market is sufficiently regulated. 

“We have demanded from the government that the e-commerce policy should be rolled out immediately,” CAIT’s secretary general Praveen Khandelwal told the Press Trust of India on January 4. “Likewise, a national policy for retail trade should also be declared as soon as possible and a regulatory authority should be constituted.”
 
CAIT and a number of other organisations published a ‘Delhi Declaration’ on Wednesday to state their demands for government regulation of the e-commerce market. With fashion and electronics brands leading the swift digitisation of the Indian retail economy, traders’ bodies are concerned that the current regulations do not adequately protect Indian businesses and consumers alike.  

“We have also demanded that e-commerce rules under the Consumer Protection Act should be implemented, which is pending since three years,” said Khandelwal. “There has to be a holistic approach not only for e-commerce but retail trade as well so that there is no overlap.” 
 
CAIT has been vocal about what it perceives to be foreign businesses dominating the Indian e-commerce market and has accused US-based businesses Amazon and Flipkart of side stepping regulations. Both businesses adamantly deny this claim.