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Indian minister asks traders to 'prepare' for tussle with e-com giants

10 Aug '21
2 min read
Pic: Shutterstock
Pic: Shutterstock

Soon after the Indian Supreme Court yesterday rejected the pleas of Amazon and Flipkart against a Competition Commission of India (CCI) probe into alleged violation of provisions of the Competition Act, 2002, commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal asked the traders community to ‘prepare themselves’ and present all their complaints to get ‘justice’.

The big companies, which were spending crores on lawyers to ensure that nothing happens on retailers’ complaints, have failed, he said.

Goyal, who has been vocal in supporting domestic traders, assured full government support to the traders community. He was addressing the traders fraternity on the occasion of National Traders’ Day, according to a news agency report.

The Supreme Court said challenging the enquiry is like wanting a notice before the registration of a first information report under the Criminal Law and asked the e-commerce giants to submit themselves to the CCI probe.

On January 13, 2020, fair trade regulator CCI ordered a probe against Flipkart and Amazon for alleged malpractices, including deep discounting and tie-ups with preferred sellers on their platforms, following which both the companies had moved the high court seeking quashing of the probe order.

According to Goyal, if businesses want to do e-commerce in India, they need to take domestic retailers along.

The government is working towards simplifying legal metrology and creating a single-window online system to stop harassment of traders, he said, and urged the traders to boost ‘Swarojgar, Swadeshi and Sugam Vyapar’.

ALCHEMPro News Desk (DS)

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