CAIT delegation meets competition commission chairman on e-commerce issue

Nagpur: Confederation of All India Traders (

CAIT

) has said that the government should take immediate action against Amazon and Flipkart for violation of FDI policy. This comes on the basis of union commerce minister Piyush Goyal’s recent statement that the FDI policy has to be strictly followed.

CAIT’s president B C Bhartia said, “Goyal's statement has come at a time when the offline business of the country is hit by the business model of these two companies.” CAIT says that the companies are indulging into predatory pricing by offering huge discounts and compensating the losses to their sellers. CAIT has already submitted evidence in this regard to the minister. It is now demanded that immediate action be taken against online companies, said a CAIT press release.

CAIT has claimed that over 40,000 mobile shops are on the verge of closure on account of predatory pricing of the e-commerce giants. Offline sales of mobile phones has come down by 60%, as against 30% to 40% decline in other items.

CAIT has said that if the government did not take action soon, the retail business of the country will be severely affected.

A delegation of CAIT reached out to Competition Commission of India on this issue. In a meeting with its chairman Ashok Kumar Gupta, CAIT delegation apprised him as to how, the online companies are trapping the country's business in a vicious cycle of unethical competition, the press release said.