Trader's body Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT), along with the government has been vigilant against unfair trade practices of e-commerce giants, with their complaints against Amazon often making news. Buoyed by the the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance's findings that e-commerce companies indulge in anti-competitive practices, CAIT has raised a demand for a robust and strong e-commerce policy. It has also called for the creation of a regulatory authority focusing specifically on e-commerce.
The organisation seeks well codified rules to avoid e-commerce from emerging as what it called another edition of the infamous British East India Company. CAIT is concerned about the threat that e-commerce platforms pose for crores of small traders in the Country.
It added that India's e-commerce trade is like an unwanted child, as despite being an important vertical of retail, it is devoid of any rules & regulations, which allows foreign portals to turn the e-commerce landscape into an open playground for their game of valuation without doing trade.
Trade leaders also went on to declare that they will form a wider forum of national organisations to make the government immediately introduce an e-commerce policy and Consumer Protection Rules.
It alleged that e-commerce's unruly conduct has damaged more than 40 verticals of retail trade, with mobile trade being the worst hit. More than 50,000 mobile retail stores had to shut shop and many have been driven to the verge of collapse due to non-availability of stocks caused by unethical collusion between foreign e-commerce players and firms that own brands.
The CAIT has reiterated its commitment to the aggressive campaign against high-handed practices of e-commerce firms backed by Amazon and Walmart, until the government takes desired action.
