The Scuffle between e-commerce vendors on one side and commerce ministry along with e-commerce companies on one side is catalyzing day by day.

Few days back AIOVA, an e-commerce vendors association had issued a trade advisory notice against e-commerce firm Flipkart for recording wrong weights for shipments.

Now in a new turmoil Nirmala Sitharaman has outrageously said that the commerce minitry is still undecided on forming an e-commerce regulatory body, giving a setback to hopes of e-commerce vendors in the country.

No Decision By Govt On E-Commerce Regulatory Body



The minister of state for commerce and industry, Nirmala Sitharaman, said the government has not reached a decision on setting up a central regulatory body to monitor e-commerce companies as of now.

The statement was made in response to queries raised by the members of the opposition in the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday based on representations made by the All India Online Vendors Association (AIOVA), an association of vendors who sell products on marketplaces such as Amazon, Flipkart and Snapdeal.

AIOVA issued a statement saying that, "The minister is nowhere mentioning that vendors also require similar support which is being given to the consumers. Our association has laid out multiple representations in media, to ministry, DIPP, RBI and Niti Aayog."

Nirmala Sitharaman said that -- E-commerce activities are governed by a number of Regulations Acts and no decision has been taken by the government for setting up a regulator for e-commerce."

In response to a related question, Sitharaman acknowledged that the government had received communication from AIOVA to resolve issues related to payment settlement for online sellers."No such data (on quantum of business done through e-commerce sites in the country) is centrally maintained," the statement said.

Commerce Ministry "Scooting" E-Commerce Issues



Besides, AIOVA also alleged that despite multiple pleas, the Commerce Ministry is running away with their issues with respect to the marketplaces such as Amazon, Flipkart and Snapdeal, and appealed for intervention from a higher authority.

In September, the association had met Nirmala Sitharaman to request her to take up the pending payment issue of cash-strapped e-commerce firm AskMe.

AskMe's shut down left around 4,000 people jobless and several vendors without payments.

There hasn't been a concrete solution offered on that so far.

"The minister should understand that the said companies are e-commerce marketplaces who have collected money from consumers on sellers behalf and not reimbursed to sellers. The minister had met the representatives of our association in 2016 and had assured to look into our problems, however, there is no headway into the same," the association said.
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