Claiming that foreign e-commerce firms such as Amazon and eBay are “killing domestic players in the Indian market”, the economic wing of the RSS has asked the government to ban not only these, but also Indian players such as Flipkart which have high foreign fund infusion.
Unhappy with the BJP-led government’s overall foreign direct investment policy, leaders of the Swadeshi Jagran Manch (SJM) met Finance Minister Arun Jaitley earlier this month for a discussion on the budget and have sought a white paper on FDI.
“We are of the opinion that FDI in e-commerce should be prohibited by law. Though we do not allow FDI in e-commerce sites, they circumvent the law to sell their product in the country. Even Indian e-commerce firms like Flipkart have turned to be foreign now with funding from outside. There is a lacuna in the law and this cannot be allowed. We have asked the Finance Minister to plug loopholes in the law,” Ashwani Mahajan, SJM national convener, told The Indian Express.
Although Indian law does not allow FDI in e-commerce sites that sell products to customers directly, it allows FDI in market places that link sellers and buyers. In a November 2014 report on e-commerce, Motilal Oswal Securities said that the $11-billion e-commerce market in India is expected to grow 37 per cent to reach $20 billion by the end of this year.
Read full report: Meanwhile, an RSS reminder: Ban e-tail like Amazon, Flipkart