After the feud between the e-commerce companies and the trader’s body comes to a stand still from both the ends, the Competition Commission of India (CCI) decided to step into the matter to resolve issues, cited Inc42.
The long-tussle between the two groups is related to deep discounting, predatory pricing, and violation of FDI norms, among others.
As per the report, the CCI is now planning to release an advisory for ecommerce platforms including online retailers and food aggregators.
Recently, the Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) had met with the CCI to put across their points. During the meet, the CAIT laid down its concern about the alleged involvement of ecommerce companies in unethical practices that violate the government’s foreign direct investment (FDI) policy.
Whereas, according to Ashok Kumar Gupta, chairman of CCI, stated that selling products at affordable prices do help businesses tap the market, but transparency is needed here too.
He added that advisory will bring this in for sellers and consumers, but it might not cover the issue of deep discounting raised by small retailers and restaurants.
While, the e-commerce sellers and traders suspect that ratings and reviews favoured products under ecommerce private labels.
“These mechanisms will enable swifter resolution outside an otherwise lengthy enforcement process and allow for market corrections to happen faster,” Gupta further said.
In addition, the CCI is going to create a commitment mechanism, which would allow parties to rectify their behaviour before an investigation by the CCI, before introducing the settlement mechanism.