Amazon, Flipkart put retail trade in jeopardy: PM told
The Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) on Wednesday petitioned Prime Minister Narendra Modi to protect India's retail trade from the unethical business practices resorted by Amazon, Flipkart and other ecommerce companies in violation of the FDI policy under Press Note No 2 of 2018.
In an appeal to the Prime Minister, its president B C Bhartia said these e-commerce companies are making all efforts to destabilise the long-standing retail trade of India, which is the largest employment generator after agriculture.
His general secretary Praveen Khandelwal said Amazon and Flipkart are operating against the fundamental trade principle that the loss acquiring business entities cannot sustain for long in the market unless backed by the financial institutions or investors.
The two CAIT leaders said both the companies are suffering huge losses of thousands of crores since the last many years but still they hold few "big sales" every year. According to them, the latest data shows Amazon registering cumulative losses of over Rs 7,000 crore in just 2018-19 even while its revenue shot up by 54% while Flipkart registered loss of Rs 5459 crore as against its revenue shooting up by 44%.
They said the tax departments swing into action if any trader in the country declares such account position, but no initiative taken against Amazon and Flipkart despite a sound case of circumventing money and escaping the due liabilities of GST and Income Tax for the past five years.
The two business leaders alleged a nexus between these e-commerce firms, brand owning companies and few banks to create an unfair competition as the brands are offering extra ordinary prices violating the Competition Act and banks are advancing various cash backs.
"Whether any investigation will be conducted by the government into their business model or they will be allowed to make Indian e-commerce market a free playground where they will operate the business to their wish," Bhartia and Khandelwal asked.