Ease of Doing Business for MSMEs: Traders’ body Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) on Wednesday released a five-points charter to protect the interest of domestic traders from e-commerce giants.
The charter titled “Stakeholders E-Commerce Delhi Declaration” was launched by CAIT at the Indian Trade conclave along with other associations of transporters, MSMEs, Hotels and Restaurants, Travel, FMCG, toys, electronics, jewelers, etc. in New Delhi today.
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The trade body called upon the Central Government to roll out the e-commerce policy and National Retail Trade Policy in order to protect the interest of offline traders. Another demand for an empowered Regulatory Authority similar to Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) and Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) was also put forth.
CAIT Secretary General Praveen Khandelwal said that it is crucial that sellers registered on online marketplaces are individual entities and not related to the e-commerce companies so that the latter is not able to, directly or indirectly, control the inventory of the seller.
“No marketplace entity shall act as an inventory-based e-commerce entity. Similarly, no inventory-based e-commerce entity shall register any third-party seller. Every marketplace platform must act in a completely neutral manner toward the sellers, consumers and other service providers,” he said.
He also urged for the provision wherein banks are not allowed to selectively provide offers/cashback on the marketplace platforms. He attacked the collaboration amongst brands, global e-tailers and banks hailing it as an “unholy trio”.
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“The brand-owning companies are providing some goods to e-giants for exclusive sale on their portals whereas the Banks are giving cash backs and other lucrative schemes exclusively on purchase from online. Both these acts are a gross violation of Press Note No.2 of FDI Policy of 2018,” he said.
These associations and organisations have also formed a “Save India – Save Trade Forum” to reach out to other federations and chambers across the country to gather support for their charter.