CAIT alleges e-commerce companies of misinterpreting MHA's guidelines for their benefits

New Delhi, May 4 (KNN) The Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) has alleged that e-commerce companies are misinterpreting the Ministry of Home Affair's (MHA) guidelines to deliver non-essential goods in Orange and Red Zones.

Aggrieved with such gross wrong interpretation by e commerce companies, the CAIT on Sunday, sent a communication to Rajnath Singh, Defence Minister & Chairman of the GoM on Covid-19 urging him to get the matter clarified by the MHA. The copy of the letter is also sent to Home Minister Amit Shah & Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal.

In its communication, the CAIT said that as per MHA order, ''nowhere in the said guidelines no permission has been given to e commerce portals to deal in non-essential goods in orange and green zones. However, these e commerce companies are interpreting that since except restricted activities, all other activities are allowed in orange and green zones, they are also entitled to deliver non essential goods in orange and green zones.''

''It will be highly unfair if the e-commerce players are allowed to deliver all kinds of non- essential goods whereas Brick and Mortar retailers are allowed to deal only in essential commodities. This will create further imbalance in the level playing field and give rise to unnecessary conflicts,'' it added.

In another development, CAIT Secretary General Praveen Khandelwal said that the traders' body has decided to launch a nationwide campaign for " Avoidance Chinese Goods".

''Its unfortunate that Indian trade is largely dependent upon China and no effort were made by the traders in past years to identify other resources except China for meeting their requirements. However, after gaining experience in Covid-19, the traders of India will reduce their dependency on China to a large extent,'' said Khandelwal.