Traders Body Sends Letter to FM Seeking Probe into Chinese Investments in Start-Ups

Since last year, Indian traders's body - Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT), has been firmly opposing the e-commerce giants like Amazon and Flipkart, and also in August last year, CAIT asked to boycott Chinese goods along with demand of 500% import duty on Chinese goods, to help small traders in India.

Now in a latest, on Tuesday, CAIT has sent a letter to Finance Minister Nirmala Sithraman, IT and Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad and Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal seeking a thorough evaluation of Chinese investment in Indian companies.

The traders body highlighted that investment in Indian start-ups including Ola, Flipkart, Paytm Mall, Paytm.com, Swiggy, Hike, OYO, Zomato, Policybazaar, BigBasket, Delhivery, MakeMyTrip, Dream 11, Snapdeal, Udaan, Lenskart.com, Byjus Classes, Citrus Tech, etc needs a thorough evaluation.

The CAIT letter said, "Chinese companies like Alibaba, Tencent, and others are lead investors in many Indian start-ups and as such it is to be ensured that no foul play is taking place under the garb of investment."

CAIT secretary general Praveen Khandelwal said, "….we also urge that the Chinese companies that have set up their manufacturing plants in India should also be investigated to ensure that the data they have accrued is not sent to China in any way and there is no threat to the security of the country."

According to a Gateway House report, Chinese investors have pumped in an estimated $4 billion into India’s tech startups which includes investments in 18 out of 30 Indian unicorns.

According to the report, the official FDI inflows from China to India do not present the full picture of Chinese investments in India as the investment in India has not been made in the name of the Chinese entity/investor, and is, therefore, difficult to trace. It is because Chinese funds and companies often route their investments in India through offices located in Singapore, Hong Kong, Mauritius etc. For example, Alibaba’s investment in Paytm was by Alibaba Singapore Holdings Pvt. Ltd.These don’t get recorded in India’s government data as Chinese investments.

Last month, India's Authority for Advance Rulings (AAR) rejected Tiger Global's application for exemption from payment of capital gains tax on sale of its stake in Flipkart to Walmart in 2018. In a ruling, AAR stated that the Tiger Global's investment was routed through the Mauritius entity only to benefit from the India-Mauritius tax treaty while the 'head and brain' of the company was in the US, which is similar to what Chinese investment firms have done in the past by routing the investment via Singapore.

Counterfeit, Pirated Goods on E-Commerce - CAIT wants India to Follow New Steps by US

The Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) on Sunday welcomed the steps taken by the US to stop supply of counterfeit and pirated goods on e-commerce platforms and wants similar measures by the Indian government also.

Under the new policy, published by the Department of Homeland Security of the US Government, the liability for counterfeits has been shifted from third parties to e-commerce platforms.

Notably, the new policy framework will put Amazon and other e-commerce companies in the US for policing the counterfeit goods, said the CAIT in a statement.

Commenting on the development, CAIT Secretary General Praveen Khandelwal said that it evidently shows that e-commerce platforms are not only engaged in malpractices but also promote counterfeit and pirated goods and even in their home country US.

CAIT will also ask the Government of India to bring such policies for Indian e-commerce market.

"Taking this issue, a delegation of the CAIT will soon meet Union Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal...," he said.

According to Global Brand Counterfeiting Report, global sales of counterfeits are growing at 15 per cent per year and is estimate to touch USD 1.82 trillion in 2020 and the share of e-commerce is stated to be 25 per cent share of this figure. PTI KRH

Traders to Protest Against Amazon Chief Bezos' India Visit

Traders across the country will on January 15 stage protest against Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, who will be visiting India this week, CAIT said on Sunday.

The traders' body alleged that his visit was to build a "false narrative" that e-commerce major is empowering small traders through its portal.

Bezos is likely to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi and officials, besides industry leaders, according to sources.

Confederation Of All India Traders (CAIT) has been claiming that Amazon and Walmart-owned Flipkart offers deep discounts and engaged in unfair business practices.

In a statement, CAIT described Amazon and Flipkart as "habitual offenders" of policy and law, claiming that they were destroying the e-commerce and retail trade eco system of India through predatory pricing, deep discounting, exclusivity and preferential seller system.

The traders' body has also sought an audience with the Prime Minister, prior to his meeting with Bezos, to apprise him about the "sinister game and evil design of Amazon business game which has already destroyed business of lakhs of small traders in the country".

The traders across the country will observe January 15 as National Protest Day, under which Bezos visit will be strongly opposed by gathering of traders by holding Halla Bol Rally and Sit-In in different cities of all states of the country," CAIT Secretary General Praveen Khandelwal said. PTI RSN

India's Traders' Body CAIT Seeks up to 500% Import Duty on Chinese Goods, Calls for Boycott

Traders body Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) on Sunday gave a call for the boycott of Chinese products and sought high customs duties of up to 500 per cent on these goods as China supported Pakistan's case on abrogation of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir at the UNSC.

It said that while presenting and supporting Pakistan's case on abrogation of Article 370 in United Nation Security Council, China has placed itself on the list of probable enemies for the national security of the country which has made citizens and trading community in particular grossly anguished.

The Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) has "given the call to boycott Chinese products to make China understand the repercussions of supporting Pakistan".

It added that the issue will be discussed in a national conference of traders from all states convened by CAIT on August 29 here.

"China has become habitual in supporting Pakistan on every matter which is against India and therefore now the time has come when we should reduce our dependence on Chinese goods," it said.

Besides, CAIT has urged the government to levy customs duty from 300 to 500 per cent on imports of Chinese goods. PTI RR

Traders body CAIT launches Initiative to Accelerate Digital Payments acceptance among Merchants

Traders body Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) on Thursday launched an initiative -- Digi Vyapari-Safal Vyapari -- to accelerate acceptance of digital payments among merchants across the country.

CAIT has partnered with HDFC Bank, Mastercard, Common Service Centres (CSCs) of Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (Meity) and Global Linkers for the initiative.

Realising that e-commerce will play an important role in business, "we will make live showroom of traders on e-commerce portal which will have integrated facilities of digital payments, logistics and live chat," CAIT Secretary General Praveen Khandelwal said.

He added that the initiative is aimed at accelerating the acceptance of digital payments among merchants and linking them with e-commerce portals by creating their e-commerce showrooms.

Smita Bhagat, Head – Government & Institutional Business and e-Commerce, HDFC Bank said that the initiative will make a big difference in the lives of small traders and merchants by ensuring that they have easy access to business finance and banking resources.

There are about seven crore traders in the country. PTI RR

Traders' Body CAIT Demands Govt to Launch E-Marketplace to Help Small Traders

Traders' body for for small traders and businesses in India, Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT), has urged the government to launch an e-commerce marketplace portal in partnership with trade associations where small traders, artisans and women entrepreneurs can sell their products in a 'fair and transparent manner'.

CAIT has also sent a letter to India's Union Minister of Commerce Suresh Prabhu alleging "that the e-commerce business in India is highly vitiated and has been gripped by a few big online companies who are indulging into predatory pricing, deep discounting and loss funding" against the FDI (foreign direct investment) guidelines of the government.

"The government in association with trade associations should launch an e-commerce marketplace portal where small traders, artisans, women entrepreneur and others can sell their products in a fair & transparent manner," CAIT said to Prabhu.

In the letter to Prabhu, the traders' body also demanded early announcement of an e-commerce policy and formation of a Regulatory Authority to monitor the e-commerce business in India.

In September too, CAIT had written to the Commerce Minister urging him to take serious action against e-commerce firms including Amazon, Flipkart and Snapdeal etc. for disregarding FDI norms listed for such players by engaging in retail trading activities. In the official complaint, CAIT has claimed that the e-commerce companies are indulging in a "blatant violation" of the FDI (policy).

It is to be noted in order to promote small traders in India amid uprise of big e-commerce players, CAIT -- back in November 2015 -- had also launched its own e-commerce portal named as "e-Lala" and back then, the portal was inaugurated by the then Union Minister M Venkaiah Naidu. However, the portal did not worked as expected and tanked eventually, unable bring considerable businesses for small traders in India.

Source - Firstpost

Amazon, Flipkart, Snapdeal Violate FDI rules, Alleges Traders Body

The Indian ecommerce industry is in some serious soup. India’s traders body, the Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) has decided to call out the ecommerce industry for the rules that its players are flouting in the disguise of sales and has urged the government to look into the matter.

CAIT has reportedly written to Union Commerce Minister Suresh Prabhu urging the minister to take serious action against ecommerce biggies like Amazon, Flipkart and Snapdeal etc. for disregarding FDI (foreign direct investment) norms listed for such players by engaging in retail trading activities. In the official complaint, CAIT has claimed that the ecommerce companies are indulging in a "blatant violation" of the FDI (foreign direct investment) policy.

CAIT alleges that Amazon’s Great Indian Festival Sale from 21 September to 24 September, 2017, Flipkart’s Big Billion Day Sale from 20-24 September 2017, Snapdeal’s Unbox Diwali Sale from 20 to 25 September 2017, Jabong’s Sale from 20 to 24 September 2017, Myntra’s Sale from 20 to 24 September 2017, and Shopclues’ Maha Bharat Diwali Sale from 20 to 28 September 2017 are all in violation of the guidelines issued by the DIPP.

In its complaint, the traders body divulges that the advertisements being carried out by these ecommerce companies for the last couple of weeks is an attempt of soliciting retail customers to their ecommerce platforms by influencing prices and creating an uneven level playing field in the industry.

Under the country’s FDI policy, ecommerce companies aren’t legally allowed to carry out retail trading activities, but ecommerce portals like Amazon, Flipkart, Snapdeal etc. have become such habitual offenders of the government policies that they’re circumventing the law by engaging in B2C (business-to- commerce) activities which is prohibited for ecommerce marketplace portals.

FDI policy guidelines dictate that ecommerce portals which have opened their channels for FDI can only indulge in business activities for B2B (business-to-business) business, meaning they have to stay away from undertaking any B2C (business- to-consumer) business activities. However, majority of the ecommerce players of the country have failed to adhere to this rule.

According to allegation levied by CAIT Secretary General Praveen Khandelwal, by inserting big advertisements in the mass media, these companies are addressing the consumers directly, something which is in strong contravention of the FDI guidelines.

He said, “They (e-commerce firms named) do not have ownership of the inventory of the products purported to be sold on their technology platform, how can they offer discounts or discounted prices on the products for which they are not the owners-questioned trade leaders.”

The latest development in the case is, that CAIT has charged Indian ecommerce players like Amazon, Flipkart and Snapdeal etc for violation of FDI policy for e-commerce of the Government issued on 29 March, 2016 by Department of Industrial Promotion & Policy, Ministry of Commerce.

Keep watching this space to know what action the government decided to take on the matter.

This development was first reported in India Today.

[Image: YourStory]