RSS affiliate says Flipkart, Amazon circumventing laws

The RSS affiliated SJM has passed a resolution demanding a robust e-commerce policy to protect the interests of small shopkeepers, as big online retailers Flipkart and Amazon are circumventing laws detrimental to the interests of the traders.

Swadeshi Jagran Manch (SJM) firmly believes that India should have a robust e-Commerce policy to protect the interests of 13 crore people engaged in retail trade and crores of people in small and medium industries, the Sangh's economic wing said in the resolution passed in its national convention in Madurai.

"The e-commerce companies including Flipkart and Amazon continue to circumvent laws detrimental to the interests of the traders namely small shopkeepers, book sellers, medicine shops and others. India should have a robust e-commerce policy to protect the interests of 13 crore people engaged in retail trade and crores of people in small and medium industries," SJM's co-convener Ashwani Mahajan said.

It further said that new guidelines issued by the government for those e-commerce companies which have a foreign direct investment (FDI) are prohibited from selling products from those companies in which they have stakes, but they continue to do so.

Cloudtail Ltd which is a subsidiary of Amazon accounts for 70-80 per cent of its sales. Similarly, WS Retail Ltd of Flipkart accounts for 30-40 per cent of its overall sales, the Sangh-affiliate said, adding that the e-commerce giants must be dealt with according to law.

Underlining that huge loss of employment in the conventional retail trade has been witnessed due to indiscriminate discounting and predatory pricing policies practised by the e-commerce companies, the SJM said these companies follow a business model called 'cash burning model'.

SJM also claimed that China-based sellers have been selling Chinese products illegally via the e-commerce channel and it has identified that over 200,000 such orders are being fulfilled on a daily basis.

The organisation suggested measures to the government to prevent entry of Chinese products illegally and it urges the government to immediately halt the illegal activities of deep discounts, foreign currency transactions, illegal activities of Chinese apps, SJM said.