BENGALURU: India’s various state-level trade bodies and the Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) have accused e-commerce giants of flouting rules on the sales of non-essential products during the lockdown. Unlike last year, when the Union Ministry of Home Affairs had directed e-tailers to stop selling non-essential commodities, this year, the respective state administrations are required to decide on the same.
CAIT General Secretary, Praveen Khandelwal told this publication that over the past 45 days, due to the lockdown imposed in major parts of the country, traders face estimated losses to the tune of Rs 12 lakh crore. He added that not being allowed to resume operations post the allotted timings, and selling only essential commodities has significantly impacted business.
“There are no supply chain constraints yet. Thanks to the manufacturing units still running almost with half of their capacity and interstate movement of goods allowed, the stocks have not exhausted yet. However, with the continued lockdown, we may face issues from next week onwards,” he added. On the other hand, the trader body has petitioned the commerce ministry to take strict action against e-commerce firms for violating “break the chain” orders.
“Our traders in various states have purchased non-essential products from these platforms during the lockdown period, clearly indicating a violation of the guidelines by the etailers. Except Madhya Pradesh, the sale or delivery of non-essential products has been prohibited all over the country. However, e-commerce companies like Amazon, Flipkart have not complied with the directions,” Khandelwal went on to claim.