Stick to spirit of law instead of finding loopholes: Goyal to investors

Commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal on Wednesday urged investors to stick to spirit and ambit of the law, instead of finding loopholes in them.
 

Speaking at the Indian Private Equity and Venture Capital Association Annual Conclave 2021, Goyal said that some investors have been trying to circumvent and misuse the provisions of the law, which leads to the government trying to plug the loophole.
 

"I would urge all investors, all funds, all private equity and venture capital to go down the straight path. Please don't try to look at policy or the law, and find loopholes in which you can muddy the law. In some sense, to get within the ambit of the law. But often, losing the spirit of the law, and I've said this on more than one occasion, and that's where the problem starts," Goyal said.
 

"...and then when you're looking at ways and means to break through finding loopholes within the law, that's when policymakers try to keep amending the law...amend the law, or amend the policy or clarify," he said.
 

The minister's comment comes in the backdrop of domestic traders' bodies urging the government to take action against e-commerce behemoths such as Amazon, Flipkart, alleging that they have been flouting the law by offering deep discounting, promoting preferential sellers and also indirectly moving towards an inventory model of e-commerce.
 

The Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) has time and again urged the union government to initiate ‘strict’ action and immediate proceedings against some e-commerce companies for violating the FDI policy. 
 

Department for promotion of industry and internal trade (DPIIT) is currently holding a series of stakeholder consultations on issues pertaining to FDI in e-commerce.
 

The minister also said that domestic investors can possibly penetrate much deeper into the hinterland and smaller towns and cities where there is a lot of innovation and potential waiting to be tapped.