All-India traders body seeks ban on e-comm portals

  

Surat: Accusing e-commerce portals of flouting Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) norms and causing GST and Income Tax revenue losses to the government exchequer, the Confederation of All India Traders’ (CAIT) Gujarat unit on Wednesday demanded a blanket ban on e-trade.

As part of its nation-wide protest on Wednesday, office-bearers in the state led by president Pramod Bhagat submitted a memorandum regarding their demand to the parliamentarians of Navsari and Surat.

Besides ban, CAIT is also demanding the setting up of an independent task force comprising tax experts, economists and retail experts to investigate their alleged wrong doings.

CAIT office bearers stated that the e-commerce companies are openly flouting the FDI policy. This clearly indiactes that e-commerce entities will be permitted to enter into transactions with sellers registered on its platform on B2B basis.

Also, the e-commerce companies are selling goods at prices much below fair market prices offering huge discounts charging GST at much lower prices. This way, the companies are causing huge revenue losses to the government.

“By selling at cheap rates, e-comm companies are also making retailers across India suffer losses. We have demand immediate ban of e-comm portals across the country in the wider interest of the vast base of retailers,” Bhagat added.