Empowering MSMEs with News & Insights

Draft E-Commerce rules will bring purity in trade: CAIT

Updated: Jun 23, 2021 09:40:06am
image

New Delhi, Jun 23 (KNN) The Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) has hailed the release of the draft of Consumer Protection (E-Commerce) Rules, 2020 which has spelled out the modalities and parameters of conducting e commerce business in India in very clear terms leaving no scope for the e-commerce companies to play with the rules in a manner which they were doing for last many years.

''The rules when implemented will certainly purify the highly vitiated e-commerce business of India due to unethical and illogical business practices of foreign funded e-commerce companies,'' the traders' body said in a statement on Tuesday.

CAIT complemented Union Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal for accepting the traders' demand for purification of e-commerce which is amply reflected from the various bold provisions spelled out in the draft rules.

CAIT National President B C Bhartia and Secretary General Praveen Khandelwal while expressing happiness over the release of the draft rules said that these rules when implemented will diagonally change the e-commerce business spectrum of India.

''It is a matter of satisfaction that Piyush Goyal while realising the hardships being faced by small traders has come out with the draft rules in pursuance of his statement that everyone has to follow the rules and regulations of the country and the draft rules are ample testimony of his intention. With implementation of these rules now even a small trader in the Country will be able to adopt e-commerce as an additional business,'' they added.

''We expect that now everyone will fall in line to comply with the rules and the e-commerce business in India will grow leaps and bounds-said the trade leaders. The rules when implemented will certainly liberate the e commerce business of India from the vicious clutches of few global e commerce companies which were trying to control, dominate and monopolise e commerce trade of India,'' the trade leaders added.

The duo further said that the rules will be applicable on all types of e-commerce businesses including goods & services executed through any mode of e-system. The provision of obtaining registration by e-commerce entities from the DPIIT will obliviate the fly by night e-commerce companies and it will be known as to how many companies are working in the e-commerce field and their scale of business.

The provision of KYC of each e-commerce entity before conducting business activities will help to a larger extent in identifying unethical companies and the prospects of tax evasion will be reduced. The prohibition on display or promotion of misleading or deceptive advertisements will certainly strengthen the basic fundamentals of e-commerce business in India, the CAIT said.

Both Bhartia and Khandelwal said that the most important provision relates to prohibition of sale of goods at any marketplace by its related entities which will be a game changer as we have seen that so far, the global e-commerce companies were controlling the sale through their preferred sellers. With this provision, the chances of having preferred sellers will be very bleak. However, they said that the provision of shareholding of 5 per cent or enterprises having 10 per cent beneficial ownership should be reduced to zero, else it will provide an escape route to global majors who have expertise in flouting the rules and laws.

For the first time, the duties of the sellers at the marketplace have also been spelled out which will make the marketplace more stronger and service driven, they said.

They also said that the details of the sellers to be exhibited on the portal including country of origin has been made mandatory which will restrict the marketplace to divert the demand anywhere.

''With this provision, the consumers will know from whom they have purchased the material. Likewise, the duties and liabilities of inventory e-commerce entities will further make every stakeholder accountable, which will be a unique feature of these rules,'' they stated.

COMMENTS

    Be first to give your comments.

LEAVE A REPLY

Required fields are marked *