CAIT accuses e-commerce companies of selling non-essential products during lockdown

The second wave of coronavirus has brought restrictions and lockdowns in many states. It has put a halt on working-class people which comprises the service sector, private sector and small scale businesses. However, there is no restriction on the functioning of e-commerce companies. They are flourishing during these times. 

This has enraged the trader’s body i.e Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT)  and hence they filed a complaint against companies like Amazon and Flipkart to Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal. 

Praveen Khandelwal, the general secretary of CAIT, wrote a two-page letter addressing the fact that both Amazon and Walmart owned Flipkart are making illegitimate profit during the pandemic by selling mobile phones, kitchen appliances and accessories, even though they had suspended their service from April 20th 2021 to April 26th 2021. 

This is not the first time that the trader’s body has had issues with companies like Amazon. Amazon has repeatedly been accused of disregarding the norms of FDI(Foreign Direct Investment).

As per the reports by RedSeering, the e-commerce industry has made sales of around $8.3 billion in 2020 as compared with the sales made in 2019 around $5 billion. It also says that foreign e-commerce company have been taking undue advantage of the lockdown in India. 

CAIT accused the government of being lenient with these companies. They feel that through lobbying, e-commerces companies may have put pressure on the government to allow the sale of these products.  

It urges the Minister of Commerce and Industry to issue guidelines on the sale of various products on these platforms. It also requested the Delhi government to further extend the lockdown given the current situation, even though they have lost around Rs 5 lakh crore during the second wave.