Call for National E-Commerce Policy to Protect Small Traders
The Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) has made a compelling appeal to the Union Government, advocating for the establishment of a robust national e-commerce policy aimed at safeguarding small retailers, local shops, and the extensive retail workforce, as reported by CNBC-TV18.
In a correspondence directed to Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal, Praveen Khandelwal, Secretary General of CAIT and Lok Sabha MP, referenced a collaborative study between Deloitte and Google titled “The $250 Billion Commerce Frontier.”
This study emphasizes the remarkable expansion of India’s digital commerce landscape while simultaneously highlighting the imperative for policy interventions to ensure fair competition and equitable development.
The report forecasts that India’s e-commerce sector surged to almost $90 billion from 2019 to 2025, with a projection to soar to $250 billion by 2030.
Notably, it anticipates the entry of 22 crore new Gen Z consumers into the digital marketplace, accounting for 45 percent of total online expenditures, alongside an additional 15 crore shoppers new to online platforms.
Furthermore, the analysis indicates a potential doubling of per capita e-commerce spending in India by 2030, with Tier-2 cities and smaller towns already contributing over 60 percent of the nation’s online shopper demographic.
Khandelwal expressed concern that while such projections portray the vast opportunities within India’s digital economy, unbridled progress could detrimentally affect the traditional retail framework, which continues to be a crucial source of employment and self-employment across the country.
BC Bhartia, National President of CAIT, accused several prominent e-commerce companies of contravening India’s foreign direct investment regulations by adopting indirect inventory ownership, engaging in preferred seller arrangements, and utilizing complex business models that disguise inventory-led practices rather than representing neutral platforms.
The traders’ organization further lamented that practices such as predatory pricing, persistent discounting fueled by substantial capital investment, the proliferation of dark stores, and the use of deceptive design tactics, alongside preferential seller listings and the distribution of inferior goods, are systematically undermining domestic traders.
As a consequence, the organization warned that such anti-competitive behaviors are eroding the broader retail ecosystem, which includes small wholesalers, kirana stores, distributors, transporters, and other ancillary sectors that collectively sustain millions of livelihoods throughout both urban and rural India.
CAIT cautioned that permitting foreign-funded e-commerce entities to distort market dynamics jeopardizes the objective of self-reliance outlined in the Aatmanirbhar Bharat initiative and could yield extensive economic and social repercussions.
In its communiqué, the organization urged for the immediate enactment of a national e-commerce policy encompassing provisions for stringent enforcement of FDI regulations, restrictions on predatory pricing, governance of dark store operations, algorithmic transparency, safeguards against deceptive practices, accountability for counterfeit and substandard products, equitable opportunities for MSMEs and small retailers, enhanced data protection standards, and the establishment of a dedicated grievance redressal system for both traders and consumers.
Source link: Storyboard18.com.
