The Union Commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal has hated up the debate against e-commerce giants, as he complained that “very blatantly” eCommerce companies have flouted Indian laws in “more ways than one.”
He also held them responsible for their arrogance. Piyush Goyal said all “e-commerce companies should follow Indian rules and not use muscle or money power to hurt Indian interests”.
As per the report by PTI, Piyush Goyal, on Saturday, said, “The Indian market is big and we welcome all players to come and participate. But clearly, we have to have them working within the rules and laws of the country. Unfortunately, many of these large e-commerce companies have come into India and very blatantly flouted the laws of the land, in more ways than one.”
“I have had several engagements with these large companies, particularly the American ones, I can see a little bit of arrogance of their being big and their ability to finance large amounts of money in the initial stages to try and capture the Indian market or larger part of the Indian market particularly certain products to the detriment of our mom and pop stores,” he added.
However, Goyal did not pinpoint e-commerce market leaders like Amazon.com or Flipkart directly or specify the laws that he said they have flouted.
He further added, “So, I think it will be good that all companies follow the law of the land and do not use muscle power or the money power to try and hurt Indian interests.”
“To my mind, if they have nothing to hide, if they are doing honest business practices, why don’t they respond to the CCI?” commented Goyal at the virtual event organised by the Stanford India Policy and Economics Club.
His comments have come into the public domain after the Centre put forth a new array of e-commerce regulations that could come as a hurdle in the business vision of Amazon and Flipkart in India, and force them to undergo revision about their certain business structures.
Besides this, in juxtaposition to this matter, in a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday, the Confederation of All India Traders, held e-commerce companies responsible for treating India like a “banana republic” which has weak laws.
The body urged the government to safeguard these proposed e-commerce rules, despite the lobbying efforts of these eCommerce giants.